Fairground Attraction
by mraymondjames
Summary: Another take on season 1- all begins with a return to Emma and Neal's first date at the fairground, but when Neal receives a mysterious postcard from a town that isn't on any map, how will Emma react to finding out about his complicated past?And what about that secret she's been keeping that is now in the form of a 10-year-old boy?(More characters/ships to appear later on)
1. The Hopeless Old Romantic

**Hi guys, so this is my first OUAT fic. Because it's partly an AU, there are small differences, e.g Emma and Neal's date being on a carousel of horses instead of swings, but there are also bigger differences to the show. The first chapter is just a short one, but chapter length will vary as the story gets more complex. It starts off with just Emma and Neal, but I plan on adding at least Regina, Robin, Rumple, Belle, Snow, Charming, August and Hook, but will probably add more. It is an AU-Emma and Neal still met how they did in the show, Emma still went to jail like she did in the show, but she never went to Storybrooke to break the curse (We will get to that later;) ), her and Neal found each other again on their own. This story will follow Emma and Neal's relationship as they face trouble with a capital T-They've both been keeping secrets. Big ones. Enjoy, and please review!:)**

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><p>"Can I look yet?"<p>

"Not yet!"

"Neal..." Emma sighed, turning in the direction of his voice. "I've been waiting for ages!"

"It's been 2 minutes!" Neal laughed. "I'm nearly there...it's all about the tumblers." He muttered, his numb hands fumbling over the cold smooth surface of the lock.

Emma sighed again and fumbled with the zip of her red leather jacket, eyes still closed. Her hands were numb in the cold winter evening. "I'm freezing!" She called, trying to make Neal feel bad for taking so long.

Neal cursed under his breath. The lock was partially frozen because of the cold weather, and the picking kit he had just wasn't designed for this kind of job. Eventually, the tumblers sprang back and the lock popped open.

"Yes!" He called out, "Okay, come towards me Emma." He held out his hands, ready to take hers when she arrived.

Emma slowly stepped forwards, feeling along the brick wall beside her to keep her from falling over. Once she felt Neal take her hand, she stopped walking.

It was 11 years after Emma and Neal had first met in a way that was perhaps slightly different from the norm. Sure, they'd had their issues, but now they were back together and more in love than ever. Nothing was going to separate them as they had already been through just about every trial life could throw at them. And through it all, they'd stuck together. Emma curled her fingers around Neal's, his warmth welcome in the cool evening air.

"So can I open my eyes now?" She asked, smiling at the touch of her partner.

"Not just yet," Neal smiled as he looked at the woman he loved so much, "Just a little further to walk...I think..."

Emma laughed as Neal began to guide her forwards. "Anyone would think that you didn't know where you were going, Mr Cassidy."

"Hey, it's been a while since I was here last," Neal smirked, "It's been a while since anyone has been here."

"Neal, where _are_ we?" Emma giggled. She heard the screech of unoiled metal hinges and the scraping of a low gate being pushed open.

"Why don't you see for yourself," he replied, letting go of her hand and crossing over to a power box. He plugged in the plug just as Emma opened her eyes, draping the scene before her in dazzling blue lights.

The blonde could do nothing but gasp. Before her lay a scene that she hadn't seen for years, and one that she had missed more than she had ever realised.

The carousel that she and Neal had sat on during their first date looked just as it had the last time she'd been there-slightly rusty, but the horses still looked beautiful with all the lights. Although they were stationary, they stood ready to gallop off with whoever chose to sit on them, and Emma could see the one that she had sat on last time, shining as bright as a diamond.

"Neal..." She whispered, "It's...I mean..._wow..._"

Neal smiled. He was so happy to see Emma so happy. All he wanted was for her to get her happy ending; after everything she'd been through in her short life she deserved it.

"Welcome back, Miss Swan." He took her hand and led her up towards the two horses that they had sat on all those years ago.

Emma looked around in amazement. "Everything looks the same..." She said. "And yet so much is different."

"Yeah...I mean, well, there's one thing that's _very_ different." Neal stumbled over his words as he began to get nervous. He didn't know if Emma would like his next surprise.

"What's that?" Emma asked, "I mean, even the beer bottles we left are still here!" She nudged the two dirty bottles lying at the foot of the step up to the carousel. They had moss growing out of the opening and were slightly chipped from the years of wear and tear that they had endured since the teenage Emma and Neal had dumped them there what seemed like a lifetime ago.

Neal grinned. "Come and take a closer look at your noble steed, Milady." He offered his hand, which Emma took, smiling nervously. She felt like a naughty schoolgirl who had snuck out at night to visit a boy she wasn't supposed to be seeing.

Together they stepped up to the blue and white horse that Emma had sat on the last time. Emma stroked her hand gently down the mare's mane, smiling to herself. It was exactly as she remembered it. The colours danced in the light emitting from the lights above the carousel. It was in remarkable condition, considering it had been unloved and unused for many years.

Neal watched her, a smile growing on his own face. He had been so nervous the first time he'd brought Emma here, as he hadn't been sure if it wasn't enough for her, or if it would be too strange for her or if she even _liked_ him. He began to get that same nervous feeling again as he watched Emma approach the horse she'd flumped down on years ago, when she'd been unsure as to why she'd agreed to go on a date with the man whose car she'd stolen. Or the man who had stolen a car and she'd then stolen.

"Come take a closer look around this side." Neal said, leading Emma around to the other side of the horse.

Emma looked at the other side of the horse, at first unsure as to what she should be looking at. But then she saw the neck of the horse and couldn't help but laugh.

"Neal!" She cried, "You hopeless old romantic!" She doubled over giggling with happiness as she looked at the name painted on the side of the horse-clearly freshly painted by her boyfriend:

Emma

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><p><strong>So I know this chapter is kinda short and boring, but after a couple of chapters of setting up a background and enjoying the Swanthief fluff I promise this story gets more interesting :) I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! :)<strong>


	2. A Night At The Movies

**Hi guys! Thanks so much for the reviews/favourites/follows! I'm just so glad that people are actually reading my fic, so it's so amazing that you like it too! ****This chapter is slightly longer than the last, but there are several nudges towards Neal's past. Can you spot them all? This chapter is mostly from Neal's perspective, and in future the chapters will be from the perspective of different characters. I hope you like this update, please review if you like it!:) Feel free to post any theories you may develop whilst reading!:) (Of course, I can neither confirm or deny any of them) ;) ****x**

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><p>Emma plopped down on to the back of her horse and smiled up at Neal.<p>

"So," She grinned, "What exactly are we gonna do here?"

"Well," Neal wiggled his eyebrows at her as he sat down on the horse opposite her, "I was thinking we could sit and watch the sun go down, then head back to the apartment and push the boat out with a movie and sweet popcorn."

Emma laughed, "Seriously? You think you can win me over with sweet popcorn? You cheapskate!" The blonde grinned at her boyfriend, "It's toffee popcorn or nothing!"

Neal grinned and said, "Well, I think my budget will stretch."

Emma smiled and looked down at her feet. There was a moment of silence before Neal said, "Come here, you get a good view of the sunset."

"Budge up then," Emma said, getting up and moving over to sit with Neal on his horse.

She looked down at his horse and saw that it was called 'Adam.'

"Strange name for a horse." Emma noted.

Neal just smiled quickly before wrapping his arm around Emma's waist and gazing out towards the Western horizon.

Emma slipped her arms around his neck and rested her head against his.

"It's beautiful." She whispered.

Neal considered saying one of those 'romantic' cliché lines like, 'Not as beautiful as you,' but in that moment, he didn't feel as if he had to say anything. He got a strong sense of de ja vu, back to his very first date with Emma, how she hadn't noticed how he had looked at her in those moments of silence, or how he had smiled as she took off her glasses to clean the lenses before replacing them. She had looked cute with glasses, but now that she no longer wore them, her beauty seemed even more obvious to him.

So instead of saying anything, Neal just turned his head to the side and kissed Emma on the cheek before tightening his grip around her waist.

The couple sat together and watched the glowing orb of the sun sink below the horizon, and they sat together for many moments after that, Emma snuggling closer in to Neal as the air turned colder.

Eventually, Emma got up and pulled Neal up with her.

"Come on," She said, leading him down the steps, "You have some toffee popcorn to make!"

Neal laughed and followed Emma back through the gate. He considered stopping to turn the carousel lights off, but then decided against it. Something as beautiful as the old carousel deserved to be noticed.

They made their way back towards the battered, paint-chipped, old fashioned yellow Volkswagen Beetle that the pair had shared many adventures in. Neal climbed in to the drivers' side, and Emma slipped in shotgun.

"Y'know," Neal said as he started the engine, "We never did find a name for her."

"For who?" Emma asked, buckling her seatbelt.

"The bug." Neal said it as if it were obvious, patting the steering wheel.

Emma laughed. "Cars don't need names, Neal!"

"Sure they do! Especially this baby." He said fondly. "If it wasn't for her, we'd never have met."

Emma laughed again and rolled he eyes. "Okay then, you got any ideas?"

"Nope, just thought I'd bring it up." Neal grinned.

Emma smirked and turned to look out the window as Neal rolled the car out of the alley next to the abandoned fairground. He turned left at the junction and put his foot down as he reached the main road.

Emma and Neal lived together in Portland, Oregon. After their run-in with the cops there 11 years ago, they had been wary about returning, but decided to risk it until they had saved enough money to be able to move to their dream home in Tallahassee, Florida. They didn't have much, but what they had was theirs and they shared it and they loved it. At the moment, Emma was working as a secretary at the local vets and Neal was...well, Neal was trying. He'd applied to countless jobs, been to countless interviews, met countless up-themselves bosses and been rejected countless times. He hated it so much. He wanted to work, he wanted to be able to support himself and Emma, and most of all, he wanted to help save towards Tallahassee. But things never seemed to go his way-he'd been proving that to himself since he was 14 years old.

Neal was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the stop sign until he'd driven right through it.

Emma turned to look at him.

"Eyes on the road, Neal." She mimicked.

Neal grinned and shook his head.

"My line." He said to her.

Emma smirked at him. "You looked miles away. What were you thinking about?"

Neal looked at his hands as he slowed down to turn on to the block that their apartment was on.

"Nothing," He said, "Just thinking."

"About what?" Emma pressed.

Neal sighed. It was no good lying to Emma Swan-one thing she always knew was when people were lying.

"Just...I want to help support us. And I want to help save money for Tally."

Emma looked at her feet. "Neal we've had this conversation. It's not your fault you can't get a job. It's not like you're not trying."

Neal didn't say anything. He simply parked the bug in the ally next to their apartment.

"Come on. I want that movie and popcorn you promised me. We can talk about this in the morning." The blonde reached out and took her boyfriend's hand, smiling at him.

"We're gonna be okay, Neal."

Neal looked over at his girlfriend and smiled. She never failed to cheer him up; just the sight of her could make him smile. She was everything to him, the only family he had, and he was never going to stop trying until they got their happy ending.

He squeezed her hand. "Course we are."

Emma smiled again and got out of the car. Neal did the same, and they held hands as they walked to their apartment block, up the creaking stairs and to their battered door.

Their apartment was number 6, on the second floor. Neal unlocked the door and allowed Emma to walk in first. The pair moved towards the kitchen, and Neal began to root around in the cupboards looking for the popcorn.

"I'll go pick a movie," Emma told him, sliding past him in the narrow kitchen.

"Okay, but NO PETER PAN!" Neal called as she headed in to the living room. They'd watched that movie countless times, but Neal had never told Emma why he hated it so much.

"Gotcha." Emma winked, before moving in to the next room.

Their apartment wasn't glamorous, but it was big for what they payed per month. They had a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room, and the landlord was a decent guy too. Neal had known him for a long time, they had history. He was on a break in Maine for a while, but he normally lived in the apartment below Neal and Emma.

Neal eventually found the bag of popcorn he'd been looking for, and he chucked it in the microwave. He then went to the fridge and pulled out the toffee sauce. He personally had never seen the appeal of the stuff, but Emma liked it, so he ate it. He grabbed a bowl, tipped the bag of freshly popped popcorn in the bowl and squirted toffee sauce over the top. He mixed it all up with a spoon, and then headed in to the sitting room.

Emma was sat on the sofa waiting for him, and the film menu was up on the TV screen.

"Shrek?" Neal asked, "Seriously?"

Emma grinned up at him before pulling him down to sit next to her.

"You know I'm a Disney freak. " She said, stuffing a handful of popcorn in to her mouth. "So I decided that to be fair to you, I'd go for something non-Disney."

"Yeah," Neal sighed, "I would end up with the girl obsessed with fairy tales."

He popped some popcorn in to his own mouth and put his arm around Emma as she pressed play. They sat there watching the movie and munching on popcorn for a while before Emma looked at Neal and said:

"Nemma."

Neal looked back at her. "What?"

"Nemma. The name for the bug, as in 'Neal and Emma.'"

Neal leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. "Nemma." He said back, smiling.


	3. Postcards From Nowhere

**I literally can't express how thankful I am for you guys! Your reviews/follows/favourites make me so happy! So this chapter is again quite Neal-centric, but we are gradually moving towards introducing more characters from the show, so soon enough you'll start getting some new perspectives! ****It's another short one, but I am keen to get on to the part of the story with more characters to write about. And just to warn you-I'm a fan of fluffy ships. This fic will contain some serious fluff. Please don't forget to leave a review, tell me what you want to see in this story and I'll try my best to incorporate it! ****If you have Instagram, then you can come talk to me or request things there as well- mraymondjames. ****x**

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><p><strong><strong>Emma fell asleep towards the end of the movie, so Neal flicked the button on the remote to switch it off and wrapped both his arms around her, resting his head on hers. He sighed happily, thinking how lucky he was to have her after all of the crap he'd taken in his life-his father's side of the family had been completely messed up, and his mother...well, maybe her side wouldn't have been so bad if she'd stuck around. So yeah, he'd never really had the whole 'happy family' kind of upbringing, far from it. But he'd made some good friends on his travels, he'd met Emma, and right now she was all he needed. Maybe one day they'd start their own family.

The wind had picked up after Emma and Neal had got home, and now Neal could hear the first few drops of rain coming in. A thunder storm was forecast for about an hour's time, but it looked to be coming in early. Sure enough, just as Neal was beginning to join Emma in sleep, an almighty CRASH of thunder shook the window panes. Emma shot upright, instantly awake.

"Hey hey hey, it's okay." Neal soothed her. He knew she wasn't a fan of storms.

"I...I fell asleep?" She asked, her voice shaky from the shock of the storm.

"Yeah, you missed the ogre wedding." Neal teased. Emma hit him with a pillow.

Another clap of thunder resounded through the room. Emma groaned and stood up.

"I'm gonna head to bed, hopefully sleep this one out." She told Neal.

"Okay. I'll clear this stuff up and then I'll join you." Neal said, gesturing to the empty popcorn bowl and film case.

"Okay." Emma leaned in and kissed him. "Goodnight."

"Night." Neal replied, picking up the film case and replacing the disk. He put it back in to the cupboard and then took the bowl through to the kitchen. He could leave washing it up till the morning, but he did it anyway. He scrubbed the sticky remains of toffee sauce from the edges of the bowl and put it on the draining board to dry over night. He yawned, and checked his watch. It was 11:39, and he was exhausted. Tomorrow was Monday, which meant another long, probably unsuccessful day at the job centre.

He wandered out of the kitchen in to the sitting room, and was just heading to the bedroom when he heard a 'tap tap' on the window.

Neal froze, and turned to look at the window. He saw nothing, and slowly edged closer. Glancing out into the dark winter night, he saw nothing. He shook his head and pulled the curtains closed.

It was when he was halfway across the room when he heard the noise again. Feeling slightly annoyed, Neal strode back to the window and ripped the curtains apart. He still saw nothing. Feeling curious, he slid the window open and poked his head out. The cool night air was moist with the rain, and Neal could see flashes of bright lightning, hear the distant rumble of the thunder that was drifting slowly away from them.

Just as Neal was about to bring his head back inside, he was suddenly knocked backwards by a flying damp ball of...feathers?

He quickly jumped to his feet, looking around for the source of his surprise. He found it sitting on the windowsill.

It was a pigeon, looking like it had just flown miles through the storm, and clutched in its beak was a soggy square of card. Neal cautiously stepped towards it, and took the card from its beak. As if on a schedule, the pigeon promptly hopped outside and flew off in to the night.

Neal raised and inquisitive eyebrow at the departing bird, before turning his attention to the bit of card, which turned out to be a post card. The front of the card showed a picture of a large clock tower, with the words 'Greetings from Storybrooke, Maine,' scrawled across it in red cursive lettering.

"Storybrooke..." Neal murmured. "Never heard of it."

With slightly shaking hands, he turned the card over to read the back.

It bore only 3 words, written in a familiar handwriting, but those 3 words were going to change Neal's life...possibly for the worst.

_We need her._


	4. No More Tallahassee

**Hi y'all! Hopefully this update will begin to make this story more interesting! All I will say is that I hope you payed attention to my description of Neal's landlord ;) Fun fact: This chapter was almost titled: 'The One Where The Author Says Crap A Lot.'**** Enjoy, and don't forget to leave your thoughts in the reviews!**** X**

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><p>Neal could do nothing but stare at those 3 life changing words. So simple, yet so destructive. Angrily, he stuffed the postcard in to his pocket. He knew exactly who had sent it, and he knew what it meant for him and Emma. But he couldn't face that right now. He just couldn't. He returned to the kitchen and flopped down in to a chair, placing his head in his hands. His thoughts were a spinning spiral of emotions, and Neal didn't know which one to feel first- Anger? Sadness? Fear?<p>

He settled on anger.

"Bastard," He muttered, "Of course he had to ruin my life _again_." He couldn't help but pull the postcard out of his pocket to stare at it again.

Neal knew that _'We need her'_ was referring to Emma, and he knew that it meant that others needed her, but what about him? He needed her too. And he knew exactly who he'd find in this 'Storybrooke,' and there was no way he could face him. No way in hell.

He didn't know who to be angrier at-His father, for all the crap he'd given him as a kid, the sender of the post card for ruining his only recently repaired life with Emma, or himself, for allowing Emma to fall in love with him again when he knew, he _knew,_ that one day she would have to leave him and go save countless numbers of people.

Neal wiped his hand down the side of his face and groaned. Just when things were getting slightly better-Emma had a job, they had an apartment together, they had dreams, a life. Sure, there were crappy parts to Neal's life. But he and Emma, they had each other. And now...Now they were about to lose each other. Again.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Why did this crap always happen to him? How was he supposed to explain this to Emma? How was he going to get her to a town that he knew wouldn't be on any maps, that no one had ever heard of? How was he going to explain his past to her? How was he going to explain _her_ past to her? All of these things that Neal shouldn't have to deal with, but he did all because his father had screwed up a couple hundred years ago.

Neal wanted desperately to go to bed, to lie next to Emma and wake up in the morning on the sofa to find out that this had all just been a horrible nightmare, that he too had fallen asleep during Shrek, that he'd also missed the Ogre wedding, and that none of this had ever _ever _happened.

But he couldn't. Because he knew that even if he did get to sleep, he'd wake up next to Emma for possibly the last time, and he would go and look for the post card, and he'd find it exactly where he'd left it, still shouting those 3 words at him, demanding him to take Emma away from everything she knew and loved.

No more adventures in Nemma. No more dates in abandoned fairgrounds. And certainly no more Tallahassee.

But the thing that Neal dreaded most was the handwriting...Neal knew exactly who it belonged to. And he knew that if he didn't do as this person asked then he would suffer the consequences, and Emma would too. He just wanted this to be a mistake-the handwriting was just very similar to that of a person that Neal used to know. But Neal knew that that was wishful thinking. The post card was from a town in Maine; of course it was from him. That was exactly where he was right now. Living it up in Maine, not caring whose life he was ruining.

In his anger, Neal screwed the post card up into a damp ball and furiously chucked it into the bin. He didn't care how cheap his landlord made his rent, he didn't care if they had history. He wasn't going to stand by and have Emma taken away from him.

"Sorry August," He muttered, "But you're going to have to do this without her."

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><p><em>Flashback: Portland, Oregon. 11 years ago.<em>

_He stood in the shadows of the alley, waiting. A dark figure strode briskly across the entrance. He gave it a few seconds before pushing himself off of the wall he was leaning on and following. The guy in front had his hood up and his hands stuffed in to his pockets, his head hunched over. He couldn't help but roll his eyes. Inconspicuous much? This one was going to be easy pickings._

_He increased his pace to catch up with the figure in front, but the _crunch crunch crunch _of leaves under his feet as he suddenly walked beneath a large tree cause the figure to turn. As soon as he saw the man stood behind him, the figure took off down a side path._

_"Crap," He cursed, giving up all hopes of being discreet and chasing after his target._

_By the time he got to the same path as the man in front of him, the man was halfway through climbing up a chain link fence. He rolled his eyes again, strode over to the guy and pulled him viciously back down to the ground._

_The guy wasn't going down fighting. He kicked and tried to run._

_"You got the wrong man, officer!" He yelled._

_"No, you got it wrong. I'm not a cop." August told him, pinning the guy down._

_Neal struggled out of his grip, rolled over and looked up in to the face of his pursuer._

_"We need to talk." August said._

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><p>Neal had eventually managed to force himself to go to bed. He tossed and turned all night, un able to get to sleep, and when he finally did fall asleep he had horrid nightmares of losing Emma in a town he didn't know.<p>

He was shocked awake by the sounds of his father's voice telling Neal he'd end up exactly like him-That he would abandon everyone he loved.

Neal rolled over and blinked several times to clear his vision. The clock on his bedside table read 8:15 am. The sound of running water drifted through from the bathroom-Emma was in the shower.

Neal threw the covers back and got out of bed. Today was going to be a long day.

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><p><strong>So I was gonna try and spice things up a bit and not have August as the same character he was in the show, but I love him too much to leave him out :') But August isn't going to be exactly who he was in the show, so stay tuned! :)<strong>


	5. Henry

**Thanks for all the feedback you have been giving me! It is so great to hear that you have been enjoying my work. ****I hope you enjoy this update, it was a fun one to write! We are starting to get to the point where more characters are coming in on a regular basis, so the updates might slow down a bit now as the story gets more complex, but I'm hoping to keep this story as active as possible as I'm really enjoying it! I have more flashbacks planned too, but as I don't want to just re make the show by repeating all of their flashbacks I will be skipping large chunks. Therefore, if you aren't familiar with the flashbacks in the show then you are unlikely to understand the flashbacks in this fic. Please don't forget to leave a review! ****X**

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><p>Emma sat at the table watching Neal closely over the rim of her coffee cup. He'd been acting strangely all morning; she could tell something was wrong.<p>

She took a sip of her coffee and then gently placed the mug on the table. Neal was reading the newspaper with way too much interest.

He was avoiding her.

Emma rolled her eyes. Men were so easy to read.

"Okay, I give up." She said.

Neal glanced up from his paper, a look of confusion on his face.

"Give up on what?"

"Come _on_ Neal. Something's wrong, and it definitely isn't because I ate the last custard cream, cause you already gave me the silent treatment for that. I give up trying to work it out. What is wrong?"

"It's nothing," He said, "I'm fine. Even though you ate my last custard cream."

"Neal," Emma gazed into his deep brown eyes, "You are a crap liar."

Neal couldn't help but laugh. "I'm not lying Ems." He got up, kissed her on the head and headed off towards the front door.

"I'd better get going." He told her. "I'll see you later."

Emma smiled at the touch. "Okay. But don't think that you can avoid this conversation forever!" She called after him.

"Yep."

"And good luck!"

"Cheers." The door clicked shut.

Emma smiled sadly. Neal was an open book to her, and something had him good.

She picked up her now empty coffee mug and cereal bowl and put them in the sink to wash up later. She had an afternoon shift today, which meant she could lounge around for the morning.

She walked into the sitting room and flopped down on the couch. Reaching over to the coffee table, she picked up the TV magazine to see what was on. She settled on 'Merlin,' a British fantasy series that she had never watched before, but it sounded good. She had only been watching the episode for a few minutes before the phone rang. She sighed and got up to answer it, wondering what Neal had forgotten this time.

"Hello?" She picked up the receiver and headed back to the sofa.

"Hi," A high pitched male voice answered, "Are you Emma Swan?"

"Uh...Yeah," Emma replied. It was a kid. "Who is this?"

"Hi Emma, my name is Henry. This might sound crazy but...I'm your son."

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><p><em>Flashback: 11 years ago<em>

_Neal pulled the bug over to the side of the road where he saw August waiting, staring into the horizon. Once he'd parked up, he stepped out and walked over to greet him._

_"__Where is she? Is she okay? How long did she get?" He bombarded August with questions._

_"__She's in a minimum security prison in Phoenix. No, I am not going to tell you which one. She's going to be fine. She got 18 months." August wouldn't even look at Neal as he replied, far too calm for the situation._

_"__That should be _me _doing that time!" Neal yelled._

_"__Calm down, Baelfire." August said, still staring out to the horizon._

_Neal took a deep breath. "I will find her." He said._

_"__I don't doubt it." August replied, finally looking Neal in the eye. "But until she gets out and has a chance to get back to normality, you will go nowhere near her. It's for her own good. Once she has returned to normal, then you can try and make things right. That's when you can begin to tell her about her past. I can set you up with a place to live until then, an apartment I own in Portland." August pulled out an envelope and handed it to Neal. "The key and address is in here."_

_Neal took the envelope. He hated this. He hated all of it. But when August had told him what his father had done, how he'd created a curse that would condemn thousands, if not millions of people to a lifetime of misery, he hadn't been able to just stand by and do nothing. Emma had a destiny, and as crap as it made him feel, he knew that she was the only hope they had of breaking this curse._

_"__But how will I know what to do once I've made myself seem like a complete nut-job to the woman I love, who will most likely hate me, and explained how her parents are Snow White and Prince Freaking Charming?" The whole situation frustrated Neal so much, and the more he thought about Emma's past, the more messed up things seemed. God, he'd been in this world too long._

_"__I'll send you a postcard." August told him. He then moved to get back on his motorcycle._

_"__Hey, August, wait." Neal said. He pulled the keys to the bug out of his pocket, the swan keychain he'd stolen for Emma from a convenience store dangled off of it. He sighed sadly. "Give this to Emma?" He asked, handing the key to August. "And..." He pulled a thick envelope out of his own pocket. "I managed to fence the watches. Don't judge me, the money is all for her when she gets out."_

_August took the key and envelope and nodded. "I'll see that she gets it."_

_He straddled his motorbike and roared off into the distance, leaving Neal alone with his conscience._

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><p>Emma's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. It wasn't possible. It was several moments before she realised that the kid was still talking.<p>

"...and I mean, I was gonna come and see you to tell you in person, but my adoptive mother wouldn't let me leave, and..."

"Hey, kid," Emma said, snapping back to her sense, "I don't have a son."

The voice on the other end of the phone sighed. "Sure you do. 10 years ago, you gave a baby up for adoption, right?"

"I...uh...I..."

"That was me."

Emma was shaking. She had always tried not to think about the baby she'd never held, the baby that she hadn't even been able to look at. The baby that Neal didn't know about.

"I know that this is kinda out of the blue, but I just really want to meet you. I want to know my real mom."

"Kid, I-" Emma began. She couldn't be expected to meet up with a 10 year old kid she wasn't even sure was hers. After all, this could be anyone on the phone. He could be anywhere.

"Please?" The kid whined. "Please, I...I need to meet my mother."

Emma sighed. She knew the feeling. If she could get the chance to have a phone call with her parents, she'd beg them to let her meet them too.

"Okay kid, how do I know you're really my son?"

"Because I can tell you why you gave me up." Henry replied.

"Oh yeah? And why's that?" Emma asked. She wasn't even sure that she knew the reason herself, she just knew that the kid would have been better off without her. That had been reason enough for her, at the time.

"You wanted to give me my best chance." The boy said, his voice pleading with Emma.

Emma sighed again. She realised that the kid was right. All she'd wanted was to give him his best chance in life, and she had known when he was born that she couldn't support him. Not without Neal.

She sucked in a deep breath, and spoke before she could change her mind. "Fine, kid. I'll come and meet you. Where's home?"

"Do you have an e-mail? I can mail you my address." Henry replied instantly.

"Um, okay..." Emma replied uncertainly, before reeling off her e-mail.

"I'll send it now!" Henry replied cheerfully. "And what about my dad?"

Emma's heart dropped to her stomach region. There was still the problem that Neal didn't know about his son.

"He, uh...That's not a conversation to be had over the phone kid."

"Why?" Henry asked.

"It's complicated." Emma told him. "We'll talk about it when we meet."

"Okay." Henry said. "I can't wait!"

"Yeah, me neither kid." Emma told him half-heartedly. She hung up the phone.

She sat there, dumbfounded before pulling out her phone and checking her mail box. One unread e-mail from Henry Mills.

She opened the e-mail, and found that the kid had attached a picture of himself to the e-mail. Emma stared at it, marvelling at how much Henry looked like his father. He had Neal's nose, Neal's eyes, Neal's hair...But Emma's ears.

Whether she liked it or not, this was Emma's son. Emma's son who wanted to meet her.

She scrolled down to read the address, and snorted with laughter.

"Storybrooke, Maine? Seriously?"

* * *

><p><strong>P.S-I love custard creams. Had to get them in there somewhere. ;)<strong>


	6. The Truth About Pinocchio

**Well, I know that this is supposed to be a Swanthief fanfic, but hey. We all love August, right? There are a few things about his past that I want to get cleared up before we move on, so the flashbacks in this chapter will be dedicated to him. This one was also fun to write, so I hope you enjoy! And please leave your thoughts in the reviews! ****P.S-To the guest that said custard creams are the bomb...I like you. ****X**

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><p><em>Flashback-The Enchanted Forest, pre-curse.<em>

_Pinocchio was running through the forest in tears. He didn't want to leave his papa, and he definitely couldn't look after a baby, especially not in a land he knew nothing about. He remembered his promise to the Blue Fairy-to be selfless, brave and true. How could he be sure that he could keep that promise if he didn't know anything about the land he was going to? And if it was a land without magic, how could he be certain that he wouldn't turn back into wood as soon as he got there?_

_He was so wrapped up in his thoughts and sobs that he didn't notice the imp until he ran right into him._

_"__Careful, dearie!" Rumplestiltskin gave his signature creepy laugh, "You wouldn't want to go running into trouble now, would you?"_

_"__I...I'm sorry sir." Pinocchio stuttered. He'd never seen anyone quite like the creature stood before him. Green skin, long brown talons for finger nails, yellow eyes and crazy hair._

_"__You look upset, child." Rumplestiltskin giggled. "What ails you?"_

_"__I...My papa told me never to speak to strangers." Pinocchio said._

_The imp giggled again. "But I am no stranger, Pinocchio! I know all about you and your beginnings."_

_Pinocchio stared at him curiously. "You do?" He asked._

_"__Well of course! Now why don't you come and sit over here and tell me what's wrong?" Rumplestiltskin asked, gesturing to a fallen tree. "I may just be able to help you."_

_Pinocchio stared at him for a second before he smiled. The imp giggled, knowing he was going to get exactly what he wanted._

* * *

><p>Neal slammed the door shut and sighed. Another pointless day at the job centre. He chucked his keys into the dish on the table in the hall. He went and got a drink from the kitchen before shuffling into the sitting room to find Emma sat on her phone on the sofa.<p>

"Hey," He said, flopping down next to her. "I thought you had a shift this afternoon?"

"Yeah, my boss rang. They had a power cut and had to close, so I didn't have to go in."

"Ah. What are you up to?" Neal asked, glancing at her phone screen.

"Nothing, just e-mailing a friend." Emma told him, tilting her screen away so that he couldn't see her arranging a meeting with Henry for a couple weeks' time. That would give her some time to break the news to Neal...If she could face it.

"Hey, so, do you fancy taking a trip soon?" She asked, sending the e-mail to her son. That was weird, to think that she was talking to her _son_.

"A trip? Where? It's not like we can afford to be taking holidays, Emma."

"I know, but this one...I mean, we haven't had time to go and properly relax for ages. And, I'll take some extra shifts to cover it if I have to." Emma shrugged.

Neal eyed her curiously. It wasn't like the blonde to want to take a trip, especially when money was as tight as it was.

"Where were you thinking of going?"

"Oh, just a road trip, maybe. I've always wanted to go see Maine."

Neal choked on his drink. "Maine?" He spluttered, thinking of the postcard lying in the bin in the kitchen. "Ems, I don't think there's a lot to see in Maine."

"I know, but...it's just one of those places I've always wanted to see, y'know?"

Neal frowned. Emma had certainly never mentioned such a wish to him before. He started to panic, thinking that maybe she'd found the postcard, or that maybe August had contacted her.

"Well what's brought this on?" Neal asked, "Why the sudden rush to book a trip?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Fine." She snapped. "You don't have to come, but I'm going."

She stormed off towards the bedroom.

"Emma, wait..." Neal yelled.

"What?" The blonde yelled. "It's not like you'd be paying for this, Neal! It's _my _money, _I _earned it! I can do what I want with it! What have you done to help? I'm going to Maine and that's the end of it." She slammed the door to the bedroom shut behind her.

"Emma, I..." Neal considered following her, but knew it was no use. He'd just have to wait until she calmed down to talk to her.

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_So you're saying that you want me to help you break the curse that _you_wrote, in exchange for me helping you find your son?" Pinocchio enquired._

_"__Exactly, dearie," Rumple giggled. "You must stay with Emma until she is 28 years old, and when she is of age, you must bring her to break the curse. However once the curse is broken I shall be unable to leave whatever miserable place I end up in, so you must be the one to go and find my son and bring him to me. In exchange, I shall ensure that you and your father get your happy ending after the curse is broken."_

_Pinocchio considered it for a few moments. It seemed simple enough, and if it meant that he would get to see his father again for definite..._

_"__Do we have a deal?" The imp asked with a flourish of his hands._

_Pinocchio considered it one last time. He'd heard about the deals that this man makes, but he was desperate._

_"__Yes." He said firmly._

_Rumplestiltskin giggled again. "Wonderful. But I shouldn't have to warn you, dearie...All magic comes with a price. If you betray me Pinocchio...There'll be all hell to pay."_

_The imp disappeared with a poof._

* * *

><p>Neal sprinkled some cinnamon on top of his peace offering of hot chocolate and headed towards his and Emma's bedroom. Her words about him not earning had stung like hell, but he knew she was just upset. She hadn't meant it...right?<p>

He knocked softly on the door.

"Emma?" He called. "Emma, I'm sorry. I was stupid I know, it's just..." Neal sighed. He hated himself for it, but he knew he'd have to lie to Emma to cover up his reaction to her plans.

"It's this money situation. I still feel awful that I'm not contributing, and I just don't want to have to go back to stealing and living out the back of a car. Those days are over, and I just want us to be able to have a good life together."

He paused, and upon hearing no reply, he continued. "I love you Ems, and I just want to look after you, if you'd let me?"

Still no answer.

"Emma, please come out so we can talk about this."

Neal stood there for a good minute before he eventually heard soft footsteps padding across the room.

Emma slowly opened the door. Her eyes were red from crying.

Neal held out the hot chocolate with cinnamon. Emma smiled and took the mug. She then leaned forwards and pressed her head in to Neal's shoulder.

"I'm sorry too." She whispered, her voice breaking up as fresh tears began to roll down her face.

Neal wrapped his arms around her, and started stroking her hair.

Emma took a shaky breath and said, "I didn't mean it, Neal. I know you're trying. I just...I'm finding it hard too."

Neal closed his eyes and buried his head in her hair. He was about to make one of the toughest decisions of his life, but he knew that he couldn't avoid August forever. He could only delay the inevitable.

"We can go to Maine if that's what you want, Ems." He whispered.

But hell, was he gonna delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<em>

_August stood at the cabin in the woods, waiting. He knew that he would be here any second, and he was getting more and more nervous._

_Eventually, he heard the sound of a car on the track nearby._

_A few minutes later, a figure walked in to view, limping._

_"__Mr Booth." Mr Gold said smoothly, stopping in front of August and leaning on his cane. "I trust all is well?"_

_"__Yes. I set a message yesterday. He should have received it by now."_

_"__Then _why_isn't he here yet?" Gold hissed._

_"__Well, you...you have to give him time Mr Gold." August stuttered. "He should have explained everything to Emma, so it's only a matter of time before they arrive here."_

_"__You'd better hope so, boy. I'll admit it was clever of you to be able to bring both Emma and Baelfire here at the same time. But you have delayed me long enough. If they are not here by the end of this week...well," Gold laughed. "You know what'll happen."_

_As Gold turned and walked away, August's leg erupted in to horrendous pains that shot up his leg and spread to the rest of his body. He cried out in agony and collapsed to the ground, writhing. When he finally recovered enough to roll his trouser leg up, he saw a patch of dark brown on his skin._

_His leg was turning in to wood._


	7. Lies Work Two Ways

**So personally I really enjoyed writing the last chapter, I hope y'all enjoyed reading it! For those of you who were wondering how Rumple was able to use magic in SB before the curse was broken, I promise you we will get to that. ****This chapter, I tried a different writing style. I hope it's not too complicated, but I think the dual perspective is an interesting experiment. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please leave your thoughts in the reviews! ****X**

* * *

><p>Neal lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, his arm wrapped around Emma's sleeping figure.<p>

_Emma lay in bed next to Neal, pretending to sleep._

He looked at her and sighed.

_She felt his chest rise and fall as he sighed, and wondered what he was thinking about._

This time in two weeks they would be driving around Maine, possibly spending their last few moments together.

_Emma hoped that he would understand why she kept their son a secret from him._

Neal knew that once Emma found out about his past, and about how he'd kept it from her, that she would never forgive him.

_But she knew that was wishful thinking, because she knew that once Neal found out about Henry, and how she'd kept him a secret, he'd never forgive her._

He needed to get these thoughts out of his head. If his time with Emma was really coming to an end in two weeks, he was going to make them the best two weeks of her life.

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<em>

_August had managed to stumble back to his room at Granny's B & B. How he'd manage to do it in the pitch black with a painful numbness growing in his lower left leg he didn't know. But what he did know was that he needed to warn Neal about his father. If August couldn't get Neal to come and see his father, then god knows what the imp would do to the rest of the town in order to get his son back. If anyone could keep August, and Storybrooke, safe from the Dark One, it was Neal._

_He and Neal had history. They weren't friends in the normal meaning of the word, but they were close. Neal wasn't exactly fond of August, and he got that. After all, he had made him leave the woman he loved. But maybe if August explained to him that his father was still obsessed with power...maybe Neal would come to Storybrooke and help him. As much as he hoped that Neal would come when he received the post card, he knew it wasn't enough to make him leave everything behind. But August knew he had to try and save himself, save the town, from the Dark One._

_August had collapsed on his bed as soon as he got in, and now rested his half-wooden leg on a couple of stacked pillows. He checked his watch._

_1:27 am._

_It was early, but August had to contact Neal. He dug his mobile out of his pocket and dialled his number. As the dial tone sounded through his ear, August felt the pain in his leg again and wondered _how _Gold had been able to use magic. The curse should prevent any of that..._

* * *

><p>Neal was just drifting off to sleep when he heard his phone vibrate on his bedside table.<p>

_Emma had finally managed to fall asleep when she was roused by the sounds of a phone vibrating against a surface._

Neal frowned. Who on earth could be calling him at this hour?

_The only person Emma could think would call this late was one of those companies trying to sell something._

Neal gently slipped his arm out from underneath Emma and rolled over to answer the phone.

_Emma felt Neal slide out of bed to pick up his phone. The coldness of his absence was torture._

"Hello?" Neal whispered groggily.

_Emma still had her eyes closed, and was about to roll over and open them to look at Neal when she heard his voice take on a tone of panic._

"August?" Neal hissed.

_Emma had never heard Neal mention anyone called August before. Curious, she kept her eyes shut and her breathing deep to feign her continued sleep._

"What the hell are you doing calling me?" Neal moved towards the door of the bathroom to take the call in there, rather than risk waking Emma up.

_Emma strained to listen to Neal's conversation as he moved towards the bathroom._

"What?" Neal hissed. "What about him?"

_Emma wondered who could have injected such a cruel tone to Neal's usually soft, kind voice._

"I don't care about him, August. I only care about Emma. No I am not going to go and see him!"

_Emma sucked in a deep breath. Maybe this was what had got Neal so wound up that morning. _What _was he up to?_

"Yeah. Yes, we're coming. As much as I didn't want to, we are coming."

_Going where?_

"Two weeks. No, we can't come any sooner! I know, I want to get this done with as much as you, but how do you expect me to explain this to Emma?"

_Explain what to Emma? Emma's curiosity levels had shot through the roof._

"I know. I know I was meant to explain it to her ages ago, but how was I meant to do that? You really think she'd believe me? It's better to do things this way."

_Believe him about what?_

"So just say no to him! If you haven't made a deal with him, then he has no control over you!"

_Deals? Control? Who _was _this person?_

"Look, August, I'm going to be down in _two weeks._ Emma is nearly 29, she was supposed to be there on her 28th birthday. If you've delayed him for this long, then you can delay him for two more weeks."

_Why was Emma's age important? Something _really _strange was going on here._

"I know. Yeah." Neal sighed deeply. _Why_ did these things always happen to him? "I'll try and get down earlier, but if not, I'll see you in two weeks."

_Emma heard Neal walk back towards the bed._

Neal put his phone gently down on the bedside table and slipped back in to bed.

_When Emma felt Neal's presence next to her again, instead of feeling reassured, she felt afraid. What was Neal hiding from her?_

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<em>

_August dropped his phone on to the bed next to him and sighed. He couldn't stop thinking about what Neal had said._

"If you haven't made a deal with him, then he has no control over you." _The words echoed around August's head._

_"__If only you knew, Neal." He whispered, a small tear slipping out of the corner of his eye. He had considered telling Neal about his deal with Rumplestiltskin, but he just couldn't. Neal would never trust him again if he found out about it._

_The now familiar pains in his leg throbbed through him._

_"__If only you knew."_


	8. Capability

**Hey guyssss so this chapter I finally get to introduce the Queen of Sass! Of course, I could never live up to how she is written in the show, but I hope you like my version of her. Hopefully some of the mysteries about my version of Storybrooke and the curse will be revealed in this chapter. Hope y'all enjoy, please leave your thoughts in the reviews! X**

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><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 28 years ago.<em>

_Regina strode confidently down Main Street. She passed by many faces she recognised-there was that cricket who was always giving Snow White guidance. There was that constantly angry midget who did Snow's dirty work._

_And there was the woman herself. To think, this brat had once ruined Regina's happiness, and now she, Regina, had her happy ending, and where was Snow? Working at a grotty elementary school, separated from her Charming for the rest of eternity._

_She smirked as she turned into Granny's Diner. She sat down on a stool at the bar and ordered apple pancakes off the menu. She didn't know how she knew that she liked them, or even how she knew what they were, what any of this stuff was, but she guessed that the imp Rumplestiltskin had worked his magic there._

_She was tucking in to the delicious pile of pancakes when the door clicked open again and a tall man with a lot of stubble and a leather jacket walked in. Regina recognized him instantly._

_"__Hello, Hunts-I mean, Sheriff." She said, mentally cursing herself for nearly letting slip. _

_She'd have to work on that._

_"__Morning, Madame Mayor." Graham nodded. _

_He ordered a take away coffee from the young brunette behind the counter._

_He then walked over to Regina and leaned in close, saying, "You want me to uh...Y'know. Come over later?"_

_Regina smirked. "I would like that very much Sheriff."_

_Graham nodded again, took his coffee from the waitress, who Regina recognised as Little Red Riding Hood, and exited the diner._

* * *

><p>Emma spent the night on her side, facing away from Neal. It seemed like they both had secrets-she had Henry, and Neal had this August guy. The only difference between them now was that Emma knew that Neal was hiding something from her, and whatever it was it sounded big. But was it bigger than hiding Neal's son from him? Should she tell him? How? If she told Neal about Henry, would that mean that he would tell her about August? She had to know what was going on. She didn't want secrets to be eating away at their relationship.<p>

Emma and Neal had never been the same since the incident with the watches. Emma knew that Neal loved her, and she loved him too, but there was always that elephant in the room. If she wanted things to work between her and Neal, and hell did she want them to work, they were gonna have to stop keeping secrets from each other.

She had to tell Neal that she knew about August.

She had to tell Neal about his son.

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 28 years ago.<em>

_Regina spent the day wandering around the town, scoping the place out. The curse had given her memories of the place, but they were fake. She wanted to see it all for herself._

_She had checked out the docks, her office, the mental institution hidden under the hospital, the library, (which was closed down-Regina had ensured that there was no bookworm to run it,) and the Sheriff's station. Now she went along the street, looking at some of the shops. She hadn't intended to go inside any of them, but when she saw a sign for 'Mr Gold's Pawn Shop,' well...She couldn't resist seeing the imp suffer the consequences of the curse that he had created._

_A small bell dinged as she pushed the door open and stepped inside._

_She walked slowly towards the counter, taking in all the objects cluttered around her. She saw many things that she recognized, such as the unicorn mobile that had hung in the nursery of Snow's child._

_The nursery that the child would never sleep in. Regina smirked at the thought._

_A distant sound of footsteps sounded behind a curtain, and soon enough a man stepped out from behind it._

_Regina stared at the man before her. He looked completely different-no green skin, no yellow eyes, and a bad limp that forced him to walk with a cane. The man before her simply didn't resemble Rumplestiltskin at all._

_"__Can I help you, Madame Mayor?" He asked smoothly, stepping up to the counter and leaning on his cane._

_"__I just wanted to make sure everything was okay, Mr Gold." Regina replied. "I like to ensure that the citizens of my town are happy."_

_"__How very noble of you." Gold said tersely._

_"__Well, I like to try to be the best leader I can be."_

_"__Yes. I'm sure you do try." Gold smirked at Regina._

_Regina glared at Gold. "A piece of advice for you, Mr Gold." She told him sternly. "Do not test me. You have no idea what I'm capable of."_

_Gold raised a bemused eyebrow at her. "Is that so?" He asked. "Well I can assure you, I have no intention of-how did you put it? Ah. _Testing _you."_

_"__Good." The mayor snapped._

_Regina turned and began walking towards the door of the shop, having got what she'd come in for. The imp was completely submissive to her-he had attitude, but he knew his place. He had no idea about who he had been or where he had come from. And most importantly, about the person he'd come here to find._

_"__Mayor Mills." Rumple called after her._

_Regina turned sharply on her high heels and shot the imp a look._

_"__Yes?" She asked._

_"__A piece of advice for _you. T_here are many people in this town that will try and corrupt you to get their own way. You just be careful what you sign yourself up for, and who is signing you up for it."_

_"__I have no idea what you are talking about." Regina told him, nonchalantly shrugging a shoulder._

_She turned and stormed out of the shop, slamming the door shut behind her._

_Gold smirked and limped back into the back room. He sat down at his desk and opened the drawer, pulling out his dagger and holding it up to his eye line._

_"__You really should have read my contract, dearie." He grinned. "You have no idea what _I _am capable of."_

* * *

><p>Emma eventually got to sleep at just gone 4 in the morning. By the time she woke up, it was 12 pm and Neal had already left for the job centre. She got up, put on her slouchy clothes and stumbled through to the kitchen. It was a good thing she didn't have work today, because she felt crapper than crap.<p>

She poured herself a cup of coffee with the strength of a bull elephant and flopped down in a chair to read the newspaper. She'd been reading about half an hour when she heard the door open and shut, signalling Neal's return.

"You're back early." She called, without looking up from her paper.

"Yeah, well I only needed to stick around for half the day." Neal said, walking through to the kitchen.

"Oh, why's that?" Emma asked, looking up from the paper.

"I, uh...I got a job." Neal grinned.

"OHMYGODNEALTHATSAMAZING!" Emma screamed, jumping up and throwing her arms around his neck. She hung off of him and he wrapped his arms around her waist to support her.

"Where is it?" She asked, releasing him from the vice of a hug she'd been giving him.

"It's at the bakery in town." Neal replied. "The one that sells those amazing bagels. It's nothing much, but it's better than nothing." He smiled.

Emma squealed and hugged him again. "I'm so proud of you!" She kissed him and skipped in to the living room to find some shoes.

"We've gotta go celebrate!" She called.

She grabbed her bag and Neal's hand, dragging him out of the door and in to the bug.

All thoughts of telling Neal about Henry had vanished.

* * *

><p><strong>In case any of you are wondering why I chose the bakery as Neal's place of work, it's cause I totally ship BagelFire. Don't try to convince me that they shouldn't be cannon.<strong>


	9. Sugar Highs

**I'm posting this update a little early because I'm going out later and won't be able to post at my usual time. So I know that some of you are keen to see Neal and Emma get to Storybrooke, and I promise we are gonna get there soon. Just a few more chapters, guys! ****I hope you enjoy this update, please don't forget to leave a review! ****X**

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><p>Emma dragged Neal down to the car and practically threw him in. She got in the driver's side and buckled up her seatbelt.<p>

"So where do you wanna go?" She asked excitedly.

"I don't mind. Wherever you want to go." Neal smiled.

"Well, I have an idea." She grinned.

Emma slowly pulled the car out of the alley and drove south.

They drove in silence for a while before Neal said, "Hey Ems, I've been thinking. If we go to Maine in two weeks, we'll be there over your birthday. Why not go sooner and come back to spend your birthday at home?"

Emma mulled it over for a bit.

"I don't know Neal, I mean; I've already got the time off work for two weeks time. I don't suppose you can start your new job only to instantly take time off."

Neal sighed. This was gonna be harder than he'd expected.

"Ems, I don't start my job until the end of this month. Surely you can swap your holiday? Isn't there anyone you could swap shifts with?"

"Well, I could do, but it's very last minute sweetie. When were you thinking of going?"

"Well... This Sunday?"

"Sunday? Neal that's 5 days away! I can't organise time off in 5 days!"

"Can you try? Please, Emma, I wanna make your day special. I want to spend it with you at our home."

That was a bare-faced lie. Sure, Neal did want to make Emma's day special, he did want to spend it with her. But he knew that he wouldn't be spending Emma's birthday with her this year, or any other year to come.

Emma fell silent for a few minutes.

"Okay." She smiled at him. "I'll try."

Neal grinned at her. "Thanks honey." He leaned over and kissed Emma on the cheek.

He then sat back in his seat, a mix of relief and dread flooding through him.

He might have just saved August some time.

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<em>

_Regina slammed the door of Gold's shop closed behind her. She stormed over to the desk and tapped her fingers impatiently on the glass case._

_Eventually, Gold swaggered out from behind his curtain._

_"__Ah, what can I do for you, your majesty?"_

_"__You can tell me how you're able to use magic here." She snapped at him._

_Gold gave her a look of innocence, eyebrows raised at her sharp and impatient tone. "I can assure you that I have no idea what you're talking about."_

_"__Don't mess me around, Gold." Regina glared at him. "Thanks to you, I've spent years around magic. I know magic when I sense it. And you...you stink of it."_

_Gold chuckled. "Well I'd like to remind you of the conversation we had the first time you came to visit me here, Ms Mills."_

_"__What about it?" Regina asked through gritted teeth. Trust Gold to wrap things up in a mystery._

_"__I told you to be careful what you signed yourself up for. I'd hoped that it would make you double check all your deals that you made to get where you were. But I guess you didn't pick up on that particular clue."_

_"__Get to the point, Rumple." Regina raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm a busy woman."_

_"__Well, the details are gonna cost you."_

_"__Fine." The mayor snapped. "What do you want?"_

_Gold laughed. "Nothing yet, dearie. But you'll owe me a favour."_

_Against her better judgment, Regina agreed to the deal._

_Rumple turned to a filing cabinet behind the counter and began to rifle through it. He pulled out a worn piece of parchment from the very back, and placed it on the counter for Regina to read._

_"__This is an extract from the contract _you _signed, when you made the deal with me to find out what you were doing wrong when you failed to enact the curse the first time. It states that in the new land that you created, I would have wealth, comfort and an estate. It says that you would have to do whatever I asked you to if I said 'Please' and it _also s_ays, 'In the land created by the enactment of the dark curse, the Dark One's powers shall be contained within the source of his power until such a situation arises when magic is universally available.' Do you know what that means, Regina?"_

_Regina shot him a withering glare. She was pretty sure she knew _exactly _what that meant._

_"__It means that so long as I am in control of the source of my power, I can remember_ everything. _My__ magic is readily available to be used whenever I feel it is necessary."_

* * *

><p>Emma pulled the bug in to the car park of a theme park. She killed the engine and glanced over at Neal.<p>

"Ta dah!" She grinned.

Neal raised an eyebrow and looked at his girlfriend.

"A theme park?" He asked, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"Yeah, some jerk stole the whole romantic fairground date idea, so I had to improvise." Emma winked at him.

Neal smirked and looked back at the park.

"Come one Neal! They have a really cool Peter Pan ride..." Emma tried to persuade him.

"Emma, _why_ would that make me any more eager to go inside?" Neal laughed.

"Because you get to go for a ride on the Jolly Roger and laugh at Captain Hook's perm and waxed moustache..."

Neal laughed. "Consider me sold."

_'__Oh Emma...' _He thought. _'__If only you knew the real story.'_

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<em>

_August woke up still lying on his bed, with his leg propped up on the cushions. On closer inspection, he saw that the entire lower half of his left leg was now solid wood. Dragging himself off of the bed, he stumbled over to his desk and picked up the phone._

_He punched in Mr Gold's number and waited for him to pick up._

_"__Hello?" Gold's smooth voice carried down the line._

_"__Mr Gold," August gasped as a fresh wave of pain rolled up his leg. "I...I contacted your son. He's trying to get down to Storybrooke within the next two weeks."_

_"__But I said by the end of this week, Mr Booth." Gold replied. "Sort it out."_

_There was a click and then the line went dead._

* * *

><p>Neal opened the door to the apartment block and allowed Emma to walk in before him.<p>

"Such a gentleman." She grinned.

Neal looked at her.

Emma looked at him.

"Race you to the top?" Emma asked.

Neal just continued to look at her. Suddenly, he took off up the stairs.

"HEY!" Emma yelled before running after him.

She took the stairs two at a time until she caught up to him, and then she grabbed the back of his shirt.

Neal collapsed against the wall of the stairwell, laughing as he watched Emma disappear off up to the next floor.

He slowly walked up, catching his breath. When he finally reached their floor, he looked at Emma who was leaning triumphantly against the door to their apartment. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"I win!" She sounded like a child.

"I think someone's had too much cotton candy." Neal said seriously. He took his key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, before suddenly sweeping Emma off of her feet.

He carried her through to the sitting room and dumped her on the sofa. He kissed her on the lips and flopped down next to her.

It was well into the evening by the time they'd finished at the theme park, but that was mainly because Emma had insisted on going on the Peter Pan ride about 7 times. She was such a big kid, and Neal loved her for it.

"Neeeaaaallll," Emma whined. "I'm thirstyyyy."

Neal couldn't help but laugh. Emma was completely and utterly hyper.

"Okay, sweetie. I'll go get you some water."

"But I want coffee." Emma pouted.

Neal just laughed again. "I think that the last thing you need right now is caffeine."

Emma grinned sheepishly. "Okay."

Neal walked in to the kitchen and poured Emma a glass of water. As he walked past the kitchen table, he saw his phone lying on top of the newspaper.

"There you are," He muttered.

He gave Emma her water, and sat down to check his messages.

Emma looked up and saw his phone, remembering the conversation Neal had had in the night. In her sugar-induced state, she was unable to control herself.

"Neal, who's August?"


	10. Mayor's Business

**Hi y'all, I am so overwhelmed by the reaction to the last few chapters! I'm so so glad that you are enjoying my story. We're getting ever closer to Storybrooke time! I split this chapter into two, because I think if I had put it as one then it would have been too long. So there is a bit of a cliff hanger at the end of this one! Please be aware that because this is the first half of a long chapter, some issues arise in this chapter which will be addressed in the next one, so don't worry! :) Enjoy and please review! ****X**

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 10 years ago.<em>

_Regina had asked Gold for help and he had come up trumps. She now sat in her office holding her adopted son in her arms, smiling down at him and stroking his chubby cheeks._

_"__Hello, Henry." She whispered softly._

_She settled Henry down into his stroller and returned to signing her papers._

_There was a soft knock at the door._

_"__Come in," Regina called without looking up for the papers._

_"__Hello, Regina." A male voice said._

_Regina looked up._

_"__Sydney," She smiled. "Excellent, I've been expecting you. Please take a seat."_

_Sydney rushed forwards at her words and sat down in the seat opposite her._

_"__You needed my help?" He asked, leaning towards her like a puppy begging for attention._

_"__Yes." Regina placed her pen down next to her freshly signed papers and looked up at Sydney._

_She smiled at him. "I need you to do some digging for me, Sydney."_

_"__On what?"_

_"__Not what. _Who_." Regina corrected him._

_She looked over at Henry, and said, "I need you to find my son's biological parents."_

* * *

><p>Neal stared at Emma, mouth agape.<p>

"W...what?" He asked.

Emma had her hand over her mouth. "I..."

Neal groaned. "You heard me talking to him last night."

"Yes." Emma whispered, looking down.

"August is a friend who I've known a long time now." Neal told her. "He needed some advice, and I gave it to him."

"It sounded like a bit more than friendly advice to me." She said sternly.

Neal looked at his feet and said nothing.

"Neal, what aren't you telling me?"

Neal sighed. "August...he's... He's in trouble, Emma. He's in trouble with my father, and I feel responsible for it."

Well, that wasn't a lie. It was just skimping on the truth.

"Your father?" Emma's eyes widened.

Neal _never_ spoke about his father. He had only ever mentioned his family once, in fact. It was on their very first date, when they'd gone to the fairground for the first time. He'd told her that he had lost his family a long time ago, but he didn't really seem that sad about it. More regretful. He'd told her that his home hadn't been with his family, because when you have a home, you know. You just...miss it.

He clearly did not hold much affection for his father.

Neal turned to look Emma directly in the eye.

"My father is a bad person, Emma. He plays with people, using them to get what he wants and in return they get misery and hopelessness. Nothing good ever comes from doing business with him. August... He is living in the same town as my father, and although he hasn't signed anything to make him my father's pet, he is still being threatened by him. If I go to see him, then maybe I can help him. But I don't want you going anywhere near him."

"Why not?" Emma asked. "Where is August now?"

Neal dodged the first question. "He's in Maine. That's why I was reluctant to go to Maine with you, because if I go there and my father finds me, then I won't be able to leave. He'll make sure that I stay."

Emma sighed. "Neal, why didn't you just tell me? I could have helped." Emma was curious though. Suddenly her and Neal both had summons to Maine? Was that just a coincidence?

Neal took her hands in his. "Ems, that's _exactly_ why I didn't tell you. I knew you'd want to help, and I don't want you getting caught up in this."

Okay, now it was back to lying. Ish. He didn't want Emma to get caught up in the business with his father, but that wasn't why he hadn't told her about August.

He hadn't told her because he didn't want to lose her.

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 10 years ago.<em>

_Two days after Regina had requested that Sydney find Henry's birth parents, he ran into Regina's office without knocking, holding a piece of paper in the air._

_"__Regina, I've fou-"_

_He stopped when he saw Regina with her blouse undone and Sheriff Graham stood before her. He stared, wide eyed, at Regina's black lacy bra, taking in her flawless skin and perfect curves. She was sat on her desk with her legs wrapped around the Sheriff's waist, leaning backwards as the Sheriff leaned in to kiss her neck. Her beautiful curls cascaded down her back, shimmering as she moved ever so slightly to allow the Sheriff to access her neck. Sydney stood, mesmerised as the Sheriff began to unbutton his own shirt and push Regina down on to her desk. As Regina began to lay down, she moved her head and saw Sydney stood in the doorway, his cheeks a deep shade of crimson._

_"__Sydney!" She snapped, shoving the Sheriff off of her and rolling off of her desk so quickly that she landed on the floor in a heap, her blouse almost completely off._

_She quickly scrambled to he feet, tangled up in the sleeves of her blouse, her hair flying, and buttoned up her blouse. She sorted her hair, cleared her throat and dismissed the Sheriff, who glared at Sydney as he walked out._

_ "Don't you know how to knock?" She yelled at him once Graham had left. "This is a private office you do _not_ just walk in!"_

_Sydney's face turned an even deeper shade of crimson._

_"Sorry Regina," He muttered._

_He didn't understand it-He was just as loyal to Regina as Sheriff Graham, yet she was never interested in _him_._

_"Have you at least found something useful?" Regina snapped, hurriedly rearranging the items on her desktop which had been disturbed or knock over during her..._activities_..._

_"Yes!" Sydney snapped back into business mode. He held out the piece of paper that he still held in his hand. "I believe I have found something of great use to you."_

_"You'd better hope so." The mayor was now in a foul mood._

_Sydney handed the piece of paper, and once she had read it Regina smirked._

_"__Good work Sydney. You just keep your mouth shut."_

_"__Yes, Regina."_

_Regina leaned back in her chair; her smile growing ever larger._

_"__Emma Swan," She muttered, staring down at the paper. _

_Sydney looked at the mayor as she read the paper. "I also got a contact number for her." He said, pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket. "Impressive, considering this was a closed adoption."_

_"__Yes, yes." Regina snatched the paper from Sydney." I am impressed. Now leave."_

_Sydney shuffled out of the office without another word._

_Regina tapped the number on the paper into her phone and waited._

_"__Hello?" A male voice answered._

_"__Oh," Regina said, surprised. Sydney had obviously given her the wrong number. Idiot._

_"__I'm sorry," She said sweetly, "I was looking for Emma Swan."_

_"__Uh...yeah, sorry, she's not available right now." The man answered._

_"__Oh, well to whom am I speaking?" Regina asked._

_"__Um, I'm Neal Cassidy, her boyfriend."_

* * *

><p>Emma walked into the bedroom and rummaged around in the wardrobe for her bag. She pulled it out and started stuffing some clothes into it.<p>

Neal was still hiding something, she could tell. And she was going to find out what it was.

Neal wandered in and saw her packing the bag.

"Are we going somewhere?"

"Yeah," Emma said, now throwing some clothes in the bag for Neal too. "Maine."

"Aw hell no, Emma! I am not going to see my father!"

"No, you're not." Emma said, her heart racing as she said, "You're going to see your son."

* * *

><p><strong>So this chapter has been edited to have more of the EvilHuntsman part in it, specially for thequeenregina bc I love her xxx<strong>


	11. Let's Go Get Lost

**I nearly didn't have time to post this update I have been so busy! :O But it would have been super mean to leave the story on that cliff hanger. I love this chapter, in a weird way. I really hope you like it, a lot happens :3 #SorryNotSorry for that last cliff hanger... But I think that the chapter is a lot better split in two like this. A couple of you have mentioned how different my version of Emma is-well this chapter we start to see the character development which will eventually lead her to become the Emma we know from the show. Just to warn you, this is rated T for a reason. There is a bit of strong language in this chapter. Enjoy, and please review! ****X**

* * *

><p>Neal just stared at Emma, stunned into silence.<p>

"I...I know it's a bit of a shock," Emma didn't know how to say this. _Why_ had she opened her big mouth? She didn't have a clue what to say next.

"I know it's a bit of a shock, but I promise you I wanted to tell you. I mean, I wanted to tell you the moment I met you again when I got out, but-"

"Emma-"

"I just didn't know how to say it, and then we were so happy, and I didn't want to ruin that-"

"Emma,"

"And then I thought that if I just left it then it wouldn't matter and it would just go away-"

"Emma!"

"But I promise Neal I wanted to tell you, I just didn't know how and then I'd have to explain why I gave him up, and I didn't know how to say it and I'm so so sorry Neal, but-"

"EMMA!" Neal yelled at her. She was rambling, not listening.

Emma just looked at him, stunned at his suddenly raised voice.

"I-uh-I'm not sure how to say this, but..."

"I get it. I gave your son away. I didn't even tell you about him. You don't want anything to do with me. I'll just...I'll just go."

Emma dumped the bag on the floor; all hopes of going to Maine had vanished.

"Emma, I already knew."

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 10 years ago.<em>

_Regina smirked. This Neal Cassidy must be Henry's father._

_"__Oh, well then I suppose I could talk to you instead. It's about my son."_

_"__Um...sorry, who are you?" Neal asked, becoming more confused by the minute._

_"__Oh," Regina laughed softly. "My apologies. How rude of me. My name is Regina Mills."_

_"__Okay, Miss Mills-"_

_"__Please, Neal. Call me Regina."_

_"__Right, um, Regina. Why do you need to talk to me about your son?"  
><em>_"__Oh, well I just wanted to find out a bit about his biological parents, you know, anything that runs in the family that I might need to know about."  
>Regina cursed herself for the poor excuse. Anything like that would have been in the adoption papers.<em>

_"__Um, I'm sorry Regina, but I don't have a clue what you're talking about." Neal laughed nervously. "I don't have a son."_

_"__Oh," Regina was surprised, "I'm sorry; I must have been given incorrect information. I was told that my son's biological mother was a Miss Emma Swan."_

_There was silence at the other end of the line._

_"__I...I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about."_

_Neal hung up._

_"__Shit." Regina muttered. She smacked her head in her hand, furious at herself for being so clumsy. She hadn't gotten anything useful out of that conversation, nothing that would suggest that this Emma Swan was who she thought she was. And she had to find out-Was she Snow White's daughter or not? And if she was, and Henry was her son, then what would keep her from just turning up in Storybrooke on her 28__th __birthday to break Regina's curse and ruin her happy ending?_

_But then she suddenly lifted her head up. She _had _got something out of that phone call._

_Henry's father didn't know about him._

_If Regina needed a way to keep this Emma Swan away from Storybrooke...She had just found it._

* * *

><p>"Wh...what?" Emma's mouth dropped open.<p>

Neal put his face in his hand.

"I already knew." He whispered.

Emma just stared at him, anger rapidly building up in her chest until she felt like she was about to explode.

And then she did.

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" She screamed. "I HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT HAVING TO TELL YOU AND HAVING TO FACE YOU AFTER I _LIED _TO YOU, AND YOU ALREADY FUCKING KNEW? HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW?"

"I WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO TELL ME EMMA!" Neal yelled back, purposefully dodging Emma's last question. "I KNEW YOU HAD A REASON FOR NOT TELLING ME AND I WAS WAITING FOR _YOU_ TO BE READY TO TELL ME _IN YOUR OWN TIME_! HOW WOULD IT SOUND IF I SUDDENLY ASKED YOU ABOUT THE SON YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT?"

Emma bent over, crying. "I'm sorry Neal." She sobbed. "But I can't do this."

She pulled Neal's clothes out of the bag and zipped it up.

"Emma, where are you going?"

"I'm going to find my son." She told him, "But I don't want you going near him. If you can't even be honest with me, then how can I expect you to be an honest father to him?"

"Emma, wait..."

She picked up the back and walked towards the door.

"Emma, please don't do this, you don't have to do this!"

"YES I DO!" She screamed, tears still streaming down her face.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND? I LIED TO YOU BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO UPSET YOU EMMA; I THOUGHT IT WAS BETTER LIKE THAT! WHY ARE YOU BEING LIKE THIS?"

"Because I trusted you," Emma whispered dangerously. "I trusted you, even after you sold me out to the cops. Even after I did time for you. I trusted you; I let myself fall in love with you again. And you betrayed me again."

"Emma, I haven't betrayed you. I didn't tell you I knew about our son to prevent a situation like this. I'm not lying to you, I promise!"

That was when Emma snapped, unable to hold it back anymore. Another empty promise. She was _so done_ with this shit. "Then why won't you tell me the truth about August?"

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 10 years ago.<em>

_Regina strolled in to Mr Gold's shop, a smug smile painted across her face._

_"__You're looking happy. Destroyed someone's happiness today?"_

_"__Yes, as a matter of fact. _Yours_."_

_"__Oh really?" Gold asked. "And how's that? You've already trapped me here, alone, for all eternity, doomed to live out my days selling old tat to people who don't care. How exactly have you made that any worse?"_

_"__I just stopped you from finding your son." Regina hissed softly._

_Gold froze, and then slowly raised his head to look at her._

_"__That's right, Rumple. I know why you created this curse. You can kiss goodbye to your hopes of breaking the curse and finding your son, because I just found a way to keep the Saviour away from Storybrooke."_

_"__And how exactly do you know who the Saviour is?" Gold asked coolly. "You've never met her."_

_"__Ah yes. But you see, when I asked you to find me a child, and you specifically chose Henry, I got suspicious. So I did some digging. Now, as a person who is, and I quote,_ 'Good with names,'_ you tell me that you didn't know that Snow White called her daughter Emma?"_

_Gold just glared at her._

_Regina laughed. "It's a bit of a coincidence that Henry's mother happens to be an Emma Swan, don't you think?"_

_"Get out," Gold hissed through gritted teeth. When Regina didn't move, he spat, "Please."_

_Regina simply smirked at him one last time before turning around and striding out of the shop, spinning one of the globes on the counter with her finger for effect._

_After she'd left, Gold gripped his cane so hard his knuckles turned white, and then he raised it above his head and smashed one of the glass cases to ruins._

* * *

><p>Emma ran down the stairs, blinded by tears. She heard Neal come running after her.<p>

"Emma, please wait!"

"If you're not going to be honest with me Neal then I don't want anything to do with you."

"Emma, please just listen to me." Neal caught up to her and grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him.

"Emma," He began, "I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But the truth is, there are greater plans for you. Plans that I can't explain, it's not my place. But please, let me come to Maine with you and I _promise_ I will tell you everything I can about August. When we get to Storybrooke, I can get August to explain _everything."_

Emma's watery green eyes stared in to his deep brown ones.

"You're unbelievable." She whispered.

"What? I-"

"YOU KNEW ABOUT STORYBROOKE AS WELL? IS THAT WHERE AUGUST IS?"

"Emma, I-"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT AUGUST WAS IN THE SAME TOWN AS MY SON?"

Neal's eyes widened. "W...what? Our son is in Storybrooke?"

"Yeah..." Emma's voice shook, "You...you didn't know?"

"No," Neal said, burying his head in his hands. "But if he's in Storybrooke...Oh shit. No, no no no no _no_..."

"Neal, what's wrong?"

"Emma if our son is in Storybrooke then it means he's in the same town as my father."

"Oh, so your _father_ is involved in this too? HOW MANY MORE PEOPLE AREN'T YOU TELLING ME ABOUT?"

"PLEASE EMMA JUST STOP YELLING AT ME! Let's just get to Storybrooke first, and _then_ you can yell at me some more."

Emma glared at him again. "Fine." She snapped, dropping the bag to the floor. "Go and grab some clothes and meet me at the bug."

Neal sighed with relief. "Thank you." He then ran upstairs to grab some clothes. Five minutes later, he was sitting in the driver's seat of the yellow bug, pulling out of the alley.

"Do you even know how to get there?" Emma asked, making it clear from her tone that she was seriously pissed off.

"Nope." Neal said. "But a town that nobody's ever heard of? Can't be too hard to find. All we have to do is get completely lost."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Right," She said, exasperated. "Let's go get lost, then."

* * *

><p><strong>My feels when writing this, I hate seeing my baebies fight. There was a small diddy ickle Frozen reference in there in honour of season 4...I wonder if you spotted it... ;) Well having completely broken you, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you feel the need to yell at <em>me...<em>Please hit the reviews! :)**


	12. There Is A Town In Maine

**CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH! THE DAY IS HERE! SOUND THE ALARMS! STORYBROOKE HAS LANDED! This is the chapter you guys seem to have been waiting for...the one where Emma and Neal arrive in Storybrooke. I hope it lives up to your expectations! But I'm sorry it's not very good. I'm saving the action for the next couple of chapters ;) For those of you who didn't spot it, my tiny unintentional Frozen reference in the last chapter was when I said, "Unable to hold it back anymore," which is similar to "Can't hold it back anymore" from Let It Go. Enjoy, and please leave a review! ****X**

* * *

><p>Emma gave Neal the silent treatment almost all the way to Maine.<p>

Almost.

"You never did tell me how you found out about Henry." She muttered, staring out of the window.

She thought Neal hadn't heard her until he said, "He...his name is Henry?"

Emma turned to look at him and nodded.

Neal smiled at hearing his sons name for the first time. "I like it."

When Emma didn't reply, he sighed and began to tell her the story of the phone call.

"Ten years ago, not long after you...you know, went to jail, I got a phone call on your old cell. It was a woman...Now I think of it, I can't remember her name. I'm shit with names. Rosie...no...Rachel...It began with an R. But anyway, she asked me about her son, saying she wanted to know about his biological parents. I told her I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, and she said she'd found out that her son's biological mother was called Emma Swan. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together from there."

Emma returned to her silence.

Neal huffed and tapped the steering wheel as he continued down a winding road in a dark forest. It was very late at night now, and the bugs weak headlights were struggling to pierce through the thin mist that had begun to settle around the road and forest. Neal was tired, he just wanted to sleep. But his nerves and curiosity kept him awake. Just.

In his sleepy state, he didn't see the wolf in the road until he was about to hit it.

"SHIT!" He swerved to avoid it, and the cars wheels span against the road. They span in circles for what seemed like an age before they finally came to a halt on the wrong side of the road.

Neal groaned. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," Emma said, breathless. "What happened?"

"There was a wolf in the road," Neal said disbelievingly.

"Wolves? In _Maine?"_ Emma scoffed.

"Emma, I know what I saw, and there was a freaking _wolf_ in the road!"

"Whatever Neal, Let's just get to Storybrooke."

"Right," Neal said, facing out of the windscreen. "Oh crap..."

"What is it now?" Emma snapped.

The fog had thickened since before Neal had seen the wolf, and the spinning had completely disorientated him.

"Uh...I don't know which way we have to go..."

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 1 year ago.<em>

_Henry sat alone at a picnic table outside of the school. He was staring into space. Mary Margaret came out of the front door to call an end to recess when she saw him._

_She wandered over, clutching the strap of her bag to support it._

_"__Hey, Henry." She said softly._

_"__Hi Miss Blanchard," Henry mumbled sadly without looking up._

_"__Are you okay?" Mary Margaret perched on the edge of the bench opposite Henry._

_"__I'm fine." He sniffed, "I just...I...Sometimes...I just wish I knew who my real mom was."_

_Mary Margaret took on a look of sympathy. She knew he must have had another fall out with his mother._

_Mary Margaret sighed. "Well, maybe one day you'll be able to meet her. But Henry, Regina...I mean, your mother, she does love you. Even when it doesn't seem like it. I know she can be strict at times, but she is the mayor. She gets stressed sometimes. She might get a bit grumpy with you, but it doesn't mean that she doesn't love you."_

_Mary Margaret placed a hand on Henry's arm and squeezed it. She paused to think as an idea struck her._

_She smiled. "Here." She said, pulling something out of her bag. She handed it to Henry, who simply stared at it. "I found it whilst clearing out my wardrobe this morning. I was going to give it to one of the classes, but I think you could use it more."_

_"__Once Upon a Time?" He asked, lifting the front cover up to look inside. A picture of Snow White holding a sword at what appeared to be her wedding stared back at him._

_"__Sometimes fairy tales can be an escape from our reality." Mary Margaret told him. "They remind us that happy endings do exist." She slowly turned and began to walk away._

_"__Miss Blanchard?" Henry called after her, looking towards her._

_"__Yes?" She turned back to face him, and Henry swore she looked exactly like the picture of Snow White. He could practically see her in the same dress and with the same hairstyle as Snow White had in the book._

_"__Thank you."_

* * *

><p>Neal eventually started driving again, after Emma nagged him for 20 minutes about how she knew she should have driven, and how it was ridiculous to think that there were actually wolves in Maine. He didn't know where he was headed, but he thought that going somewhere was probably better than going nowhere.<p>

They were completely lost.

After about another hour of driving and seeming to get no closer to this Storybrooke, Neal was about to tell Emma that maybe they should find somewhere to stay and try again when it was light and the mist had cleared. However, she quickly changed his mind before he'd been able to even open his mouth.

"Hey, what's that?" Emma asked. Finally, Neal could see something that wasn't mist or trees. It looked like...

"It's a road sign." Neal replied. "What does it say?"

Emma peered through the mist, and eventually, once they were within a few metres of it, she was able to read what it said.

"Now entering Storybrooke."

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<em>

_It was early in the morning, but August sat outside Granny's, his motorcycle parked on the curb. He held his head in his hands, tears streaming down his face. He was a dead man, he knew it. If Neal wasn't here within the next four days, then Gold would be out for blood._

His_ blood._

_He sighed, and wiped the tears from his face. He'd call Neal again at a decent hour and find out how he was getting on with Emma. Until then, he'd just have to try and get some sleep. He began to wheel his motorcycle around the corner into the parking lot of Granny's B & B, but then he stopped. Through the mist that was settling around the town, he could see two pinpricks of light. They were moving in his direction, and eventually he recognised them as headlights._

_"__Who the hell is driving down Main Street at this hour?" He muttered to himself. "Strangers don't come to Storybrooke..."_

_He stayed stood where he was so that he could try and see who was in the car. However, as it got closer he recognised it...It was a car he hadn't seen for years, but it was definitely the same one._

_An old fashioned yellow bug._

* * *

><p>Emma sat forward in her seat as they drove down what appeared to be the main road of the town. It was about 3 am by now, yet as they drove past a clock tower on top of a library, she saw that the clock read 8:15.<p>

"Way to add to the spookiness of this place, a frozen clock." She muttered. "Remind me to send my compliments to the towns decorator."

Neal just stayed silent.

"Hey look, there's someone there!" Emma pointed towards a figure stood a few yards ahead of them. "We can ask them where we could stay for the night." She continued.

"What, ask the random stranger who is up at 3 am where we could stay? Sounds like a great idea, Emma."

"Alright, Mr Sarcasm." Emma returned coolly. "Holy shit!" She gasped, as the figure suddenly ran out in front of the car.

Neal slammed the brakes on.

"See? He's a nut job." Neal told her.

The figure began to move towards the driver's window, and Emma began to get nervous.

"Neal, let's get outta here. This guy is freaking me out."

Neal didn't do or say anything, just continued to stare at the figure who was now just a couple of metres away.

"Neal?" Emma asked, as Neal unbuckled his seatbelt and moved to get out of the car.

"Stay here." He told her.

"Neal what are you doing?" Emma called after him as he got out and shut the door behind him.

Neal wandered towards the figure, tilting his head to the side as he peered through the mist.

"August?" He called.

The figure abruptly stopped.

"Neal? Is that you?"

Neal took another few steps forward and finally saw the man who had turned his life upside down all those years ago.

"Man, you look like shit." He told him.

August barked out a laugh. "Good to see you too."

A car door slammed behind Neal, and he turned to see Emma storming towards him.

"Neal what the hell is going-" She stopped when she saw August.

"Hi, you must be Emma." He said. "It's been a long time."


	13. Story Time

**Sorry about that last chapter, it wasn't my best work. But I hope you enjoyed it anyway. And sorry for not updating yesterday, I've been so busy and don't want to rush the chapters, so the updates may come less often now. Sorry :( ****But on the upside, this chapter is quite a long one with lots of stuff happening! I didn't want to split this one as I don't think it would have worked. This is the chapter where things start kicking off in Storybrooke. I hope you like it! Please review! ****X**

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_Hi, you must be Emma." He said. "It's been a long time."_

"Um...Do I..._know_ you?" Emma asked, staring at the man before her.

There _was_ something familiar about him.

"No." August said calmly, "But I know you."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Are you gonna elaborate? Or...y'know...Introduce yourself?"

"Emma, this is August." Neal interjected. "He's...An old friend.

"Oh...So _you're_ August." Emma growled at him.

"Um...Does my reputation proceed me?" August looked at Neal.

Neal grimaced at him. "Sorry, mate..."

Emma stepped forwards.

"Here's what's gonna happen. We," She gestured at herself and Neal, "Are gonna find somewhere to stay. Then, in the morning, _you_," She jabbed a finger at August, "Are going to explain _everything_. No mysteries. No unanswered questions. Just straight up answers."

August looked at Neal. "You weren't exaggerating when you said she was...ah..._strong minded._"

Neal grinned. "And when have you ever known me to exaggerate?"

"HEY!" Emma snapped, "I am still here!"

August laughed. "Come on, I'll take you to Granny's. You might have to share my room tonight; I don't suppose Granny takes bookings _this_ early in the morning. She might bite your head off!"

"Okay," Neal said, "But, uh...Can you just give us a moment?"

August looked from Emma to Neal. "Sure."

He walked off towards his motorcycle and continued wheeling it into the car park.

Neal waited for him to be out of earshot before turning to Emma.

"Look, I know that this is probably a lot for you to take in, but-"

"Neal, just shut up with the patronising and make sure I get my answers. Please. I just want to understand why you had to hide August from me, and what it is he needs to tell me. _Then_ I am going to meet my son, and _then_ we can talk."

She stomped off to follow August to the B &B. Neal sighed. He looked around him, but still could see nothing for the mist that surrounded them. He had three things to do while he was her: 1-Make peace with Emma, 2-Meet his son, Henry, and 3-See his father.

The first two he wanted to do. The last one he would avoid for as long as possible. But he knew that he couldn't avoid it forever.

Neal sighed and turned to follow Emma and August.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>Neal woke up lying at the foot of August's bed, his check pressed up against one of the wooden legs.<p>

"Great," He mumbled, peeling his check off of the wood.

He sat up and looked around. August had offered the bed to Emma, but she had refused and slept on the small two-seater sofa. She was still sleeping, but Neal suspected that that was because she had only recently got to sleep. It had taken him a while to drift off, and then he hadn't even slept for very long. August was just stirring under the covers. Neal groggily sat up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He then stood up, grabbed some clothes out of his and Emma's bag and headed for the en-suite bathroom. He got out of his pyjamas and into the shower.

By the time he had finished and got dressed, August was dressed and Emma was awake and hiding under her blanket. Neal could just see her messy blonde hair poking out from the top of the blanket.

"Morning," August said cheerfully. He was in high spirits now that Neal was here and could take some pressure off of him.

"Hi," Neal yawned. "Emma, if you get up and get ready we can go somewhere and answer some of your questions."

"I don't want you to go Neal. I just want August." Emma voice came from under the blanket.

Neal was hurt. He knew that what Emma needed to know would destroy her life as she knew it, but he still wanted to be there to support her. And what was he gonna do all day while she and August were gone? He couldn't very well go out and risk running into his father.

"Oh...okay." He said, pulling his phone out of his pocket to check his messages just to give him something to do.

"Okay Emma," August said, "We can go and get a coffee from the diner and then I have a story to tell you."

Emma had now got up and was dragging some clothes towards her. "Cut the crap. Get to the point." She told him. "We will go straight to wherever it is you want to show me and you will tell my why Neal kept you a secret and what he is not telling me."

August raised his eyebrows. "Okay, but at least let me take you out for a drink."

Neal shot August a look.

Emma sighed. "If it will make you tell me what I want to know, fine. You may take me out for a drink."

"Great." August pulled on his leather jacket. "Let's go."

"What...now?" Emma asked. "I haven't even brushed my teeth. Or my...hair..." She tugged at a messy strand of her blonde mop.

"You look perfect, now let's go." August grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the door. "We've got stuff to cover."

The door slammed shut behind them before Neal even had the chance to say goodbye.

He sighed. He knew August was keen to get things rolling so that Neal's father would let up on him, but he hadn't even been here a day and already August was taking Emma away from him. All he wanted was to make things right between them, but at this rate he wasn't going to get a chance.

He sat down on the edge of August's bed. He desperately wanted to go for a good long walk to clear his head, but he was worried about running into his father. He wasn't ready for that yet.

But in the end he decided that it was unlikely that his father would even recognise him, and his desperation got the better of him.

* * *

><p>August led Emma down to the car park and offered her his helmet. "You'll need this."<p>

"Woah woah woah, I did _not_ sign up for the motorcycle ride." Emma backed away, shaking her head.

"You want answers, don't you?" August grinned, "Well this is how you'll get them."

Emma glared at him and the pair had a staring contest for a good minute and a half before Emma finally gave in, rolled her eyes and snatched the helmet. She shoved it on her head and got on to the back of the motorbike. August slid on in front of her and fired up the engine. They roared out of the car park and headed off in the direction that Neal and Emma had come the previous night. Emma tried to get away with just clinging to the back of August's jacket, but as they lurched forwards she wrapped her arms around his waist to prevent herself from falling off. Despite the fact that Neal wasn't in her good book, (to say the least,) and despite the fact that this meant nothing, she still felt guilty about her proximity to August and the way she clung to his waist.

"Where are we going?" She yelled into August's ear through the helmet and over the rushing wind.

"To find a story!" August called back before revving the engine and speeding up.

Emma tightened her grip around his waist.

* * *

><p>Neal slipped out of the door to August's room and jogged down the stairs. He thought about heading to the diner to grab a coffee, but then decided to avoid the busier parts of town. He exited the B &amp; B and instantly jogged across the road and down a side alley. He didn't know where he was headed, but anywhere quiet would do him.<p>

He wandered around the back streets of the town for a while before he found himself at the docks. They looked pretty empty, so he wandered down one of the piers and stood staring out at the distance. He stood for a while undisturbed, so he decided to sit down with his legs hanging over the edge. It was another while before he heard the voices which dragged him out of his thoughts.

"...selling it dirt cheap." A gruff male voice was saying.

"And why, pray tell, might you be selling it so cheap?" A smooth voice replied.

Neal froze. He recognised that second voice. It was horribly, _horribly_ familiar. The two men were on the next pier over from Neal, and there were a couple of boats with large sails in between them, so Neal could hear the men but not see them...He hoped the same was true for them. He shuffled slightly towards the edge of his pier to be able to listen closer.

"Well, she's a bit banged up, could use a lick of paint. But she'll be in perfect sailing condition once you fix her up a bit."

The other man paused. "It seems like an awful lot of money for an old banged up boat."

Yep. That voice was _definitely_ the voice of Neal's father. He held his breath, praying that he couldn't see him. Neal considered getting up and leaving, but he couldn't do that without being seen. So instead he remained where he was, trying to find out what kind of trouble his father was up to these days. With horror, Neal realised that the men had begun to walk back down the pier. He prayed that they would go in the opposite direction, but no. They headed towards the end of the pier which he was sat on.

"C'mon Gold, please. You don't even have to pay me; just let the nuns off of one month's rent." The other man, who Neal could now see as a short, bearded man, hurried a few steps behind his father.

Neal's father-Gold, had the other guy called him?-Barked a laugh. "Oh so _that's _what this is about? You do realise that nuns can't date?"

Neal could almost feel the other man's embarrassment. Neal scowled. His father clearly hadn't changed one bit. He still couldn't see his face, just the back of an expensive-looking suit that appeared occasionally between the web of masts, ropes and sails that Neal tried his best to conceal himself in. He slipped down onto the nearest boat and hid on the deck, his head peeking out over the top so he could still see.

"That's not what it's like," The other man growled.

There was a silence. "Well, I'm afraid that I'm not interested. The nuns will just have to find another way to get the rent together."

The men reached the end of Neal's pier and began to walk along it. Luckily, they were too engrossed in their conversation and looking at the various boats to see him. He heard footsteps and...Was that a walking stick? His father clearly had his limp back; Neal guessed the curse had done that. He twisted his head around but remained on the boat, trying to see his father but stay hidden. He heard the two men draw dangerously close before they finally stopped. Neal's heart was racing.

"Please Gold, it's not like a guy like you would miss one month of rent!"

"That's not the point I'm afraid. I have to set an example. If I let one client off, then what would stop another client from asking for an extension? And another? And another? I'm afraid you will simply have to think of something else. You have one week before the nuns' rent is due."

Neal heard his father walk off back down the pier. He breathed a sigh of relief too soon, and the other man heard him and crept forwards.

"Who's there?" He called out, "Come out, whoever you are!"

Neal sighed. His father had had plenty of time to get out of sight, so surely the coast was clear in that respect? He slowly climbed off of the boat and back onto the pier.

"Hey," He said, an awkward smile on his face.

* * *

><p>Emma was just turning completely numb from the freezing cold wind when August finally let up of the speed and pulled the bike over to the side of the road. Emma gladly loosened her grip on his waist and climbed off of the bike as soon as they had stopped. She pulled the helmet off and shook her hair out, not missing the fact that August had watched her closely throughout this entire process.<p>

"So now what?" She asked.

August pulled the key out of his bike and propped it up on the side of the road. He took a backpack off of the back of the bike and slung it over his shoulder.

"Now we go for a little hike." He said.

"Great." Emma rolled her eyes and followed him up a hill and through the forest.

They walked for what seemed like an age, the only sounds the crunching of leaves and twigs under their feet and Emma's complaints of, "Are we there yet?"

Eventually, they reached the top of the hill, a clearing in the forest. The only thing that stood out to Emma was the old wishing well that stood before her. But even that looked pretty un-extraordinary.

She spread her hands out. "A well. Fascinating. Now can we get to the answers part?"

"Before you get the answers, you must know the story." August told her. "Tell me, Emma. Do you believe in magic?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "I came here to _ask_ questions August, not be asked them."

"Do you believe in magic?" August repeated.

Emma rolled her eyes and heaved a deep sigh. As much as she loved Disney movies, the magic in them was just part of a story. A fairy tale. None of it was real. "No, August. I do not believe in magic."

"Pity." August replied. "That just makes my job harder."

Emma frowned.

"Let me tell you the story of this well." August told her, walking right up to the edge. "They say that it is a very special well. Well, actually, there's nothing special about the well at all. It's the water that runs beneath it."

Emma decided to play along, if it meant this whole process moved a bit further. "Okay, so what's so special about the water?"

"Well, legend has it that the water is enchanted." August took his rucksack off of his back and unzipped it, "They say that it has been enchanted so if you take even just a sip of this water, it can return something that was once lost."

"And you really believe that?" Emma asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." August grinned, holding up the two cups he'd just pulled out of his bag, "You said you'd let me take you out for a drink."

Emma laughed, "Wow, when you said go out for a drink, I thought you meant...y'know, somewhere indoors. With chairs."

It was only after she'd said this that Emma realised she'd said a similar thing to Neal when he'd first taken her to the Fairground. She could see why Neal and August got along so well, even if Neal insisted that they weren't that close friends. They were very similar.

August began to pull the rope to bring up some water. He filled the two cups and handed one to Emma.

"To happy endings," He said, raising his glass.

"To answers," Emma replied, raising an eyebrow at August. He grinned at her, and they drank.

* * *

><p>"Hey, mum! Have you seen my book?" Henry called downstairs to his mother.<p>

He had been furiously rummaging around his room in search of it, but he was convinced that he'd left it in his bag.

"What book?" Regina replied, walking into his room.

"Oh, you know. My fairy tale one?" Henry asked.

Regina frowned. "You don't have a fairy tale book."

"Yes I do, Miss Blanchard gave it to me ages ago!"

Pangs of worry began to strike Regina in the stomach. She didn't want her son being influenced by Snow White's nonsense, _especially_ if it had anything to do with fairy tales.

"I'm afraid I haven't a clue which book you're talking about sweetheart." She told him.

"Of course you do! You're probably the one who took it!" Henry yelled, grabbing his backpack and running downstairs.

"Henry!" Regina gasped, trying to chase after him but was unable to due to her tall heels.

She heard the front door slam shut and sighed. She hated the fact that her son hated her. She didn't know what she'd done wrong. Then the anger started to build, and she too grabbed her bag and keys and stormed out of the house, determined to get out of Miss Blanchard _everything_ about this book.

* * *

><p>"Who the hell are you?" The short man sneered.<p>

Every ounce of professionalism had vanished now that Neal's father wasn't around.

"Uhh..." Neal wondered whether he should lie. But he couldn't stay hidden forever. "I'm Neal. Neal Cassidy."

"You sure about that?" The other man raised a bushy eyebrow. "You don't seem too confident."

"Yeah, I mean... Me and my girlfriend just arrived in town last night. I don't really know anyone yet."

The man nodded slowly. "Right. Well I'm Leroy. What were you doing hiding on that boat?"

"Oh, well, um..." Neal quickly though of an excuse, "Gold. I didn't want to run into him. I may be new to town, but I have heard _all_ about him." Neal laughed nervously. That wasn't a complete lie.

Leroy nodded. "Understandable. The guy's a jerk."

Neal snorted with laughter. When Leroy gave him a strange look, he just said, "Sorry. That's just a very accurate description. According to what I've head." He added quickly.

"Look sister," Leroy said, getting a stunned look from Neal. He was _not _this guy's sister, "You have your secrets. We all do, especially where Mr Gold is concerned. So I won't ask you no questions if you ask me none. We good?"

"Um...yeah. Sure." Neal replied.

Leroy smiled. "Excellent. Now, how about I show you around town?"

Neal paused. He wasn't sure about that, but if he and Emma were gonna be sticking around for a while, he should at least make the effort to make some friends.

"Sure. Thanks." He smiled.

"Alrighty then. We can start at Granny's diner. She makes a mean lasagne."

* * *

><p>Emma and August drove back to the town, parking up outside Granny's diner. Emma climbed off the motorbike, took off the helmet and glared at August.<p>

"So when do I get my answers?"

"Sooner than you might think, but later than you expect." August winked.

Emma sighed. So much for no mysteries. August led her into the diner and sat her down at a booth. A brunette waitress dressed in super short red shorts and a white blouse undone a few buttons too far came over to take their order.

"Hey, August." She said in a sweet voice.

"Hello, Ruby," August smiled and looked around at her, totally checking her out.

"Men," Emma muttered, rolling her eyes.

August heard this and grinned. "How rude of me. Emma, this is Ruby, Ruby, this is Emma Swan. She's new to town."

"Hi!" Ruby grinned at Emma. "Can I get you guys a drink? Something to eat?"

"Oh, I'll just have a hot chocolate please."

"Don't be ridiculous Emma. Let me get you some lunch."

Emma smirked, "First a drink, and now lunch? August, anyone would think you had a thing for me."

Worryingly, August just winked at Emma.

"I'll have a black coffee and a chicken baguette please Ruby."

"Mmhmmm," Ruby scribbled on her notepad, "And Emma?" She asked.

"I'll have a hot chocolate with cinnamon please Ruby. I'm not hungry." She said, purposefully staring August in the eye to make her point.

August just sniggered and shook his head. "Thanks Ruby," He said as she turned and walked away.

Once she was gone, August looked back at Emma.

"Ouch. Point taken."

"August, me and Neal may not be on good terms right now, but we are still together and I will not let another guy flirt with me so obviously whilst I am with someone else. You and Neal are supposed to be friends."

August just sat back in his seat, grinning at something behind Emma.

She turned around and saw Neal stood there, grinning like a school kid.

"Flirting? August, I certainly hope not." He slid into the seat next to Emma, and a short man sat down next to August.

"Hey Leroy," August said, accepting the coffee that Ruby offered him.

She then put Emma's hot chocolate in front of her. "Thanks," Emma smiled.

"Can I get you boys anything?" Ruby asked, looking between Neal and Leroy.

"I'm good thanks Ruby," Leroy said.

"Me too." Neal replied.

The brunette walked off, and Emma had to jab Neal in the ribs as he watched her leave.

"Sorry," He whispered, slipping an arm around her waist. Surprisingly, she did not move away. However, she did not lean into him as she usually did. It was progress, at least.

"I see you've met Leroy," August said to Neal, "So what have you been up to today?"

"He's been eavesdropping on my business," Leroy grunted.

"It wasn't like that!" Neal exclaimed.

Leroy and August looked at each other and sniggered.

"Well in any case it sounds like you've had an interesting morning." August said.

The door to the diner suddenly opened and closed and a young boy ran in in a complete state.

"Hey kid, what's up?" Ruby asked, coming out from behind the counter. The boy ran and hugged the waitress tightly, squeezing her waist.

"My mum stole my book." He sniffled, tears running down his face.

Emma stared open-mouthed at the boy she recognised from a photograph that had been e-mailed to her just a few days ago.

She scrambled over Neal and stood staring at the boy.

"Henry?" She asked disbelievingly.

* * *

><p><strong>I apologise to the earliest readers of this chapter-I forgot to put the divisions in so the chapter was all jumbled together. I have sorted it out now, so hopefully the different sections are clearer :) X<strong>


	14. Something Lost

**I am so sorry to the first readers of the last chapter-I forgot to put in the line dividers so the chapter was all jumbled together! I have fixed it now, so the sections are clearly separated. I also apologise again for not updating yesterday, but now that the story is getting more complicated, the chapters are getting longer so the updates will be less frequent. I hope you enjoy this update! ****X**

* * *

><p>The boy's arms dropped to his sides as he stared open-mouthed at Emma. Everyone in the diner was staring at them.<p>

"M..mum?" He asked timidly.

He then rushed forwards and gripped Emma around the waist, burying his head in her stomach. Emma bent over and awkwardly placed a hand on his back.

"Y...you're not supposed to come for two weeks!" Henry sobbed into her shirt.

Emma froze. She had been so stupid! She had introduced herself to her 10 year old son who was already in a state, and now he expected some kind of mothering. Having never had a mother herself, Emma didn't have a clue what to do.

Luckily, Neal had her back. He crouched down next to her and laid a hand on Henry's arm.

"Hey kid," He said soothingly, "It's okay."

Henry looked into Neal's face.

"Are you my dad?" He sniffed.

Neal looked up at Emma before nodding. "Yeah, I am. I'm Neal."

Henry sniffed and hugged Neal around the neck. "It's gonna be okay." He whispered into Henry's ear.

August and Leroy sat uncomfortably behind them, and Ruby stood gaping at the little family. She finally managed to speak.

"Um, guys? Do you wanna go somewhere...you know...more private?"

Emma smiled gratefully. "Yeah, come on Neal."

The trio shuffled into the back of the diner, and slowly everyone else returned to their own business.

* * *

><p>Regina stormed down the street towards the elementary school, the wind blowing her hair behind her. She strode into the school, down the halls and burst into Miss Blanchard's class just as the children were leaving for recess. The teacher looked up just as Regina reached her and slammed one hand down on either side of her desk.<p>

Miss Blanchard visibly jumped backwards. "Madame Mayor, how can I help you?" She asked once she had recovered her demeanour.

"Where is my son?" Regina demanded.

"I assumed he was home sick with you!" Mary Margaret said hurriedly, "But I guess that's not the case..."

"No, it isn't!" Regina snapped. "Tell me about this book he keeps talking about!" She hissed venomously.

"Oh, it's just a book of stories." Mary Margaret answered, relieved that she knew the answer. "Henry is a very special boy, and sometimes he needs an escape from this world."

"You are supposed to teach my son and help him mature, not fill his head with nonsense!" Regina enunciated every word perfectly.

"Oh, they're not nonsense!" Mary Margaret explained, smiling, "They're just some stories to remind him that happy endings do exist, no matter how hard things get."

"You are telling me that my son is not happy?" Regina asked dangerously.

"No, I-"

"You will stop filling my son's head with nonsense or so help me I will make sure you never have another job again after I have you fired from this one!" Regina told her, "You will either teach my son properly or not teach at all!"

The mayor stormed out of the classroom, knocking a pile of textbooks off of a desk as she went.

Miss Blanchard's teaching assistant heard the commotion and wandered through.

"Everything okay?" He asked, bending down to pick up the books and place them back on the desk.

"Yes, thank you. Just the mayor being...Well, being the mayor."

"She doesn't treat you well at all, you know. You deserve more appreciation for the way you teach these children. You really do seem to inspire them."

Mary Margaret beamed at him. "Thank you, David."

* * *

><p>Neal, Emma and Henry exited the diner through the back door. Henry had stopped crying and gently wiped the remaining tears off of his face.<p>

"So, what are we going to do now?" He asked, grinning up at his parents.

"Woah, hold up there kid. _We_ are not doing anything. Your mother is probably worried sick about you, we need to get you home. Heck, shouldn't you be in _school_?"

"But-" Henry began, not intending to answer Emma's question.

"No buts kid." Neal said sternly. "Emma-I mean, your mum, she's right. We need to get you home, talk to, erm, your other mum, and then we can hang out. Okay?"

Henry looked down. "Okay." He mumbled sadly.

Neal glanced sadly at Emma, and a mutual feeling passed between them. They both desperately wanted to be able to stay right here and spend time getting to know their son, but what kind of first impression would that give whoever his adoptive mother was? If they wanted to spend time with Henry, they'd have to get on her good side first.

"Okay kid, where is your house?" Emma asked.

"I'll show you." Henry walked off without another word.

Emma and Neal shared another sad look. This was certainly not how they'd expected meeting their son to go. But the good thing was that they were so wrapped up in the sudden appearance of Henry that they had temporarily forgotten about their argument, and so walked together behind their son without the cool air that had been present earlier on in the day.

Henry led the pair down Main Street and away from the centre of the town. He took them up to a fancy-looking gate that led to a path through a perfectly maintained garden.

Emma got increasingly nervous as they walked through the gate. She reached out and grabbed Neal's hand, and was reassured when she felt him squeeze it comfortingly.

She sucked in a deep breath as Henry walked up the garden path, the pressure building in her chest until it felt like she might explode.

She exhaled, shook her head to get her hair out of her eyes, and stuck on her confident head. She could do this. It would be fine.

Henry got halfway up the path before the front door flew open and a woman ran out.

* * *

><p>Regina was worried when she returned home from the school and Henry still wasn't back. He'd obviously gone off on another excursion by himself, and despite being used to this by now, Regina couldn't help but worry every time her son went off without telling her where he went.<p>

She was stood in the front room, nervously watching out of the window to see if her son was coming back. Eventually, she saw him walk through the front gate. She rushed towards the front door, yanked it open and shot out to greet her son.

"Henry!" She called, relief surging through her as she wrapped her arms around him. "I've been so worried! Where have you been?"

"I found my _real_ mum!" Henry yelled before running past her into the house.

Regina looked up and saw that two people had come home with her son- a man and a woman. The man hung back slightly, but the blonde woman stepped forwards.

"You...You're Henry's birth mother?" She asked, unable to believe it.

"Hi," The woman said, smiling awkwardly.

"I...I don't-"

"I get it; it's gotta be a lot to take in. We, um..." She gestured to the man behind her, presumably Henry's father. Regina's stomach lurched when she remembered the phone call she had had with him not long after she'd adopted Henry.

"We didn't mean to come down unannounced. It was kind of an unplanned trip." The blonde continued.

"Oh, well, um...Why don't you come inside and have a drink?" Regina asked, flustered. "I'm sure we have a lot to talk about."

The woman-presumably the Emma Swan that Sydney had told Regina about-smiled and thanked her, and the man, obviously the Neal Cassidy that Regina had called ten years ago, gave her a strange look as he walked past her and into the house. He obviously remembered that particular conversation.

Regina showed the couple into the living room and told them to take a seat while she went to get some drinks. She came back with a beaker of fresh apple juice to find them still standing.

"Please sit," She smiled, "I don't bite, I promise."

Emma laughed nervously before sitting down on the plush sofa, indicating that Neal should do the same. Regina sat in the armchair opposite them.

"So," Regina said, pouring them both a drink, "You are my son's birth parents."

"Yes, I'm so sorry I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Emma, Emma Swan." Emma told her.

Regina acted like this was news to her, "Well, it's very nice to meet you Emma. My name is Regina Mills, I'm the town mayor."

"Wait, you're the _mayor_?" Emma's mouth hung open.

"Yes dear," Regina smiled at her, "Is there a problem?"

"Not, oh no not at all! Henry just never mentioned that he was the _mayor's_ kid."

"Yes, well I don't suppose he's really had the chance to discuss his family with you." Regina said sweetly, enjoying the look that came over Emma's face at her words.

She smiled and looked at Neal, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Neal Cassidy, the guy you spoke to on the phone a few years ago." Neal told her, taking a sip of apple juice.

"Ah," Regina placed her own drink down on the coffee table before her, "Yes. About that, I apologise that I was so blunt; I simply assumed you knew about Henry. I wouldn't have called otherwise."

"Don't worry about it," Neal told her.

Emma had sat in an awkward silence while this exchange had been going on. Once they'd finished, she looked at Neal and said, "Hey, could you give us a minute?"

"Sure, do you want me to leave?" Neal asked, standing up.

"Perhaps you could go see if Henry's okay. I mean, if that's okay with Regina."

This most certainly was not okay with Regina, but she was interested in why Emma wanted a private conversation with her. She smiled and nodded.

"That is absolutely fine. I expect he has gone up to his room; it's the first door on the right at the top of the stairs."

Neal smiled in thanks and left the room.

Once Emma had heard his footsteps die away, she looked at Regina and said, "Okay, look. I don't know how Henry found me, or why he wanted to, but the fact is he did. And he was pretty upset when I met him. I want to know why."

"I'm not sure I like what you're implying, Miss Swan." Regina said dangerously.

"I just want to know why Henry wanted to find me so badly and why he was so upset." Emma said, realising that this woman was _definitely_ not all that she seemed.

"He's fine," Regina told her sharply, "Now I'd like you to leave, Miss Swan."

Emma stared at Regina, slightly taken aback by her abrupt nature. "Regina, I didn't mean-"

"No, you don't get to speak!" Regina snapped, "I hope there's been no misconception here, Miss Swan. He is _my_ son. I have changed every diaper, I have soothed every fever, I have put up with _every_ tantrum. You have _no_ right to just walk back into his life after leaving him."

Emma was speechless. "I...I didn't mean..."

"Now leave. Please. I will go and tell Henry where you went."

Emma was ushered towards the front door, and as she was leaving, she said, "Do you love him?"

Regina stared at her, "Excuse me?"

"Henry. Do you love him?"

"Of course I do." Regina said coolly. She then disappeared upstairs, and Neal appeared moments later looking confused.

"What is her problem?" He asked Emma, shutting the front door behind him as he hurried after her down the garden path.

"I have no idea, but whatever her deal is, I'm gonna find out and so help me I am not leaving this town until I do."

"What do you mean?" Neal frowned.

"I mean I'm not just here for answers anymore. I'm here for Henry. And I am not leaving without making sure he is happy."

"So..." Neal said, a smile forming on his face, "I guess we're gonna be sticking around a bit longer than planned, hey?"

"_A lot_ longer."

* * *

><p>By the time Emma and Neal had found their way back to Granny's B &amp; B, it was nearly evening.<p>

They were heading up to August's room when Emma heard Neal ask, "Emma?"

She stopped and turned to face him. "Yeah?"

"I really am sorry. For all of this."

"I know." Emma told him, "I just need some time."

Neal smiled sadly and nodded. But he knew Emma hadn't fully understood him. He hadn't just been talking about August and the lies. He'd been talking about _everything_-right back to the moment he'd let August talk him into leaving Emma to take the wrap for the watches.

They reached the door and Emma unlocked it, using the key that August had given her earlier. _"You take this. I'll probably be back late,"_ He'd said.

She took off her jacket and dumped it on the chair just inside the door.

"So I was thinking of getting some of our stuff sent down from Portland," Emma told Neal, "Seeing as we're gonna be-"

She stopped, mid-sentence, staring at the sofa which she'd slept on earlier that day. She couldn't believe her eyes.

_"__They say that it has been enchanted...it can return something that was once lost."_

August's words came back into her mind as she stared at something she'd thought she'd lost as a child.

A storybook.


	15. Your End Of The Bargain

**Hey strangers! Ergh I am so sorry for not updating for a while. I've been so busy with college work, and the last thing I want to do is rush this story and make the chapters really bad. I am also working on a Halloween one-shot, so that is taking up some time as well. Once that's out of the way, hopefully I'll have more time for this one :) I hope this was worth the wait! ****(By the way, the name of Emma's foster home is made up. I don't think they gave a name for it on the show so I named it after Ginny! :) ) X**

* * *

><p><em>GGs Foster Home, 20 years ago<em>

_Emma sat alone on her bed, tears streaming down her face. She'd been adopted a year ago, but now the family had sent her back. They'd had their own kids, they didn't want anyone else's anymore. It was so unfair, she'd just started to think that she could be happy and then she had had it all ripped away from her again. Her parents hadn't wanted her, her foster parents hadn't wanted her...No one wanted her. Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered staying here._

_A care worker knocked softly on the door before walking in._

_"__Hey, Emma," She said softly, "How are you doing?"_

_Emma looked up at her and sniffed; she wiped the tears away from her eyes but more soon replaced them. She didn't even bother to answer the question. It was a stupid question._

_The care worker sighed and sat down on the bed next to Emma._

_"__Look," She said, putting a plastic bag on her bed, "Your foster parents asked me to give you this. They wanted me to tell you that they're sorry, and they hope you understand."_

_"__But I don't understand." Emma replied instantly. "I'm 8, how am I supposed to understand why they don't want me? What did I do wrong?"_

_"__You did nothing wrong, Emma," The care worker laid a hand on Emma's shoulder, "They just..." She paused._

_"__Didn't want me," Emma whispered, finishing the sentence for her._

_"__Hey, don't worry. We'll find you a family." The worker squeezed Emma's shoulder comfortingly, "You take this, and open it when you think you're ready."_

_The care worker walked out, leaving Emma alone with her thoughts and a carrier bag._

* * *

><p>Emma ran forwards and snatched the book off of the sofa.<p>

"I...I..." She didn't even know what to say.

"What is it?" Neal asked, walking into the room behind her and closing the door gently behind him.

"It's my story book," Emma told him, "I lost it when I packed all my stuff up to move foster homes; never saw it again. How the hell did it end up here?"

"I...I don't know," Neal frowned, "You sure it's the same one?

"Yeah, definitely. I've never _ever_ seen a book that is like this one. Trust me, I've looked." Emma said, thinking of all the times she'd turned her new room upside down looking for the book, and how she'd scoured many shops and eventually the internet in search of a replacement.

"That's so weird." Neal said, flopping down on the sofa and frowning up at Emma.

"Yeah," Emma said, still thinking on August's words from earlier in the day, "It is."

* * *

><p>August checked his watch impatiently. He stamped his feet in an attempt to keep warm and huffed. If this was reversed and <em>he<em> was the one who was late, Gold would have his guts for garters. Why did they have to meet in the middle of the woods anyway? Surely there were warmer private places to meet. Finally, he heard Gold's car pull up and he sighed.

"About time," He muttered.

Gold swaggered up to him acting like he wasn't fifteen minutes late.

"Mr Booth," He called, "You told me you had important news."

"Yeah," August stepped towards him, "I did it."

Gold raised an eyebrow.

"I brought Emma here, so now we can work on getting her to believe. Now you can stop me from turning into wood." August gestured towards his legs, which were now both half wood.

"What about my son?" Gold asked calmly. Too calmly.

"He, erm...He's..." Neal would never forgive him if he told Gold he was here.

There had to be another way to do this.

"He couldn't make it down. Changed his mind at the last minute." August made up.

Gold's eyes widened. "Well then Mr Booth, you have failed me. You told me both Miss Swan _and_ my son would be coming to Storybrooke."

"Hey, that was just a bonus; that was _not_ the original deal!"

"Ah yes, but it is what you said you would do. I don't take this lightly Mr Booth. Get my son down here, and _then_ we shall talk about your..._situation_."

"Gold, please," August begged, "I did what you asked! I brought the Saviour here, and once Emma breaks the curse, you can go and find your son!"

"You brought the Saviour here nearly a year late!" Gold exclaimed, "And you know full well that once the curse breaks I will not be able to leave Storybrooke. I will not be able to go out and find my son, which is why _you_ need to bring him here. And you will bring him here." He growled.

August ran a hand through his hair, "Can you at least slow it down?" He asked, "Please? I'll work on getting Baelfire here, I promise, I just need more time. And if I get turned back into wood, then I'm useless to you."

"You're being pretty useless to me right now!" Gold snapped.

"I know how to contact your son, which is more than you've achieved since you lost him!" August yelled, "I deserve some credit for what I've done!"

"And credit you shall get," Gold hissed, "Once you bring me my son."

He turned and walked off, leaving August to lean against a tree with his head in his hands.

"YOU STILL NEED ME!" August yelled after him, "YOU'RE SCREWED WITHOUT ME!"

But Gold just kept walking, completely ignoring August's cries.

"You're a dead man," August whispered to himself.

* * *

><p>When August got back to his room at Granny's, Emma and Neal had their stuff in their bag and were heading for the door.<p>

"Woah woah woah, where are you guys going?" He panicked.

"Chill dude, we've just booked our own room." Neal told him, "We've decided we're gonna be sticking around a while, and thought that it would be a bit _too_ cosy if we stayed in your room with you."

August visibly relaxed at Neal's words, " Oh, okay." He grinned to try and cover his relief, "Storybrooke got it's claws into you already, hey?"

"More like the mayor," Emma muttered.

Neal laughed, "We're gonna be in room 3, just down the hall."

"Okay, um, can I...can I have a word?" He muttered to Neal as Emma walked past him and out of the door.

"Yeah, sure," Neal frowned, slightly confused, "I'll just go dump this in our room," He indicated the bag he held in his hand.

"Of course. I'll just wait here."

Neal smiled and walked out of the room. A minute later he was back, shutting the door behind him.

"What's up?" He asked, sitting down on the sofa.

August remained standing.

"It's your father."

* * *

><p><em>GGs Foster Home, 18 years ago.<em>

_It was two years after the day that Emma had been sent back to the foster home, and she still hadn't looked in the carrier bag she'd been given. The care worker who'd passed it on to her had left to work at another home, and Emma had stuffed the bag under her bed and forgotten about it. It was only when she was looking for her missing left shoe that she found the bag. __Pulling out from under her bed, she frowned, having completely forgotten about it. She sat down in the middle of her bedroom floor and peeked inside the bag. There was a rectangular package in it, as well as an envelope. She pulled out the envelope and opened it._

Dearest Emma,

We are so sorry for putting you through this. No child should have to go through this, and we can only hope that you can understand our reasons.

The year we had with you was amazing and we loved our time with you so much. We loved you so much. But when we discovered that we were expecting our own child, we thought that we couldn't cope with two children. It wasn't your fault, it was ours. We were scared and we shouldn't have been. We should have been stronger for you and are so sorry that we weren't. We just wanted you to have your best chance, and didn't think that you could get it if you stayed with us.

We discovered that we are expecting a boy. We will always consider you as his big sister. One day, we hope you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive us for all the pain we have caused you. And we are sure that your little brother would love to meet you some day, if you ever decide that you wish to meet him.

All our love,

Mr and Mrs Jones

P.S- We found this present and it reminded us of those stories you always loved. We hope you enjoy it, and maybe one day your own children will enjoy it too.

_Emma frowned. This was pretty deep stuff, considering that she was 8 when she'd been given this. Maybe the Jones' had known that she wouldn't open it for a couple of years._

_She pulled the parcel out of the bag and ripped the brown paper off. She picked up the book that had been wrapped in it._

_"__Once Upon a Time," She read the gold embellished letters on the front cover._

_Opening the book, she saw that it was already very old. She wondered where on Earth the Jones' had found it. There wasn't even and author's name or note anywhere._

_"__How strange," She murmured._

_"__EMMA!" Someone yelled from downstairs, "IT'S TIME TO GO!"_

_"__COMING!" Emma yelled back, quickly shoving the book, bag and paper under her bed and tucking the letter under her pillow._

_She then grabbed a different pair of shoes that_ weren't_ half missing and__ ran downstairs, promising herself that she'd read the book later._

* * *

><p>Neal groaned at August's words, "My father? <em>Now<em> what's he done?"

August sighed.

"Look, I...I didn't want to tell you this. You've got enough on your plate, what with Emma and all, but...I...I'm in trouble with him. Big trouble."

"August, what are you tal-"

"I made a deal with him, Neal. I made a deal with him a long time ago, and now I'm in trouble."

Before Neal even had a chance to reply, August leaned over and rolled up his trouser leg to show Neal the wood.

"I'm turning back into wood, Neal. And he's causing it."

Neal gaped at August's leg. "August, I...I don't know what I can do about that. I'm sorry, but-"

"Neal, please. You can do _everything_ about this." August pleased with his eyes.

"How?" Neal asked, "If you made a deal with my dad, then you can't break it. You _have_ to keep up your end of the bargain."

"Because you are the deal. The deal was to help your father to find you." August explained miserably.

Neal stared at August, open-mouthed. "_What?_ So, you mean, this...this _whole_ thing was just to get _me_ here? It wasn't about Emma at all?"

August flinched as Neal's voice got louder.

"Please, Neal, I can-"

"YOU WERE JUST LOOKING OUT FOR YOUR OWN SORRY ASS!" Neal yelled, "YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT EMMA OR BREAKING THE CURSE!"

"NEAL PLEASE!" August held out his hands, trying to calm Neal down, "Please. I _do_ care. The original deal I made with your father was to bring Emma to Storybrooke so that she could break the curse."

"Yeah, and that's why you made me leave her. And you're telling me that it was all for _you. _Not for breaking the curse, but to save yourself from my father."

"No! No, it's not like that! After Emma got out and found you, I couldn't put her through breaking up with you again. I couldn't put _you_ through it again. So I stalled your father. I told him to wait another year; give me the chance to make sure she understood _everything_ before she came to Storybrooke. Amazingly, he agreed."

Neal had his head in his hands; he was trying his best to remain calm.

"Then what?" He asked, "Emma knows nothing about the curse, about magic."

"Yeah, that's where things started going wrong. You were supposed to tell her everything; so that once she got here she could just break the curse and boom. Deal with your dad equals done."

"So you're saying this is my fault, for not telling Emma." Neal whispered.

"No, not at all! Just that...If Emma had been able to break the curse as soon as she got here, then you and her could have been here and gone before your dad even realised what was happening. Once the curse was broken, I'd get my end of the bargain anyway because there would be magic in town and I could save myself, rather than having your father do it for me."

"What was his end of the bargain? What do _you_ get out of this?"

"That doesn't matter," August dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. "What matters is, now your dad knows that Emma's here because I had to tell him to try and get him to slow down my turning into wood."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Neal jumped up, standing over August.

"I HAD TO TELL HIM NEAL! I THOUGHT IF I DID THEN HE WOULD STOP ME FROM TURNING INTO WOOD!"

Neal flopped back down on the sofa, covering his face with his hands, "So he knows I'm here too."

"No, that's the problem. I told your dad that Emma was here and you weren't, thinking that he'd settle for that. But he didn't. He says he won't stop me from turning into wood until he finds you. And...I don't know how long I have left Neal." August's eyes were brimming with tears. "I don't know if I'll even survive until the end of this month."

Neal kept his face covered with his hands for several seconds before suddenly getting up and walking out.

August got up and watched him. "Where are you going?" He asked, moving to the door as Neal walked out of it.

"I'm going to see my father."


	16. A Good Man Turned Evil

**I have one word for this chapter: PAPAFIREPAPAFIREPAPAFIREPAPAFIREPAPAFIRE. I literally love this (family) ship so much. WARNING: Contains feels and such. This chapter is a tad shorter than the last, but to make up for this, it is all dedicated to PapaFire. Pure PapaFire all the way through. Enjoy and please review! ****x**

* * *

><p>Neal stormed down the stairs of Granny's B &amp; B and on to Main Street. He gulped in a breath of fresh air and went right. He was shaking slightly with anger and nerves. He didn't know what he'd been thinking when he told August that he was going to see his father. There was no <em>way<em> he was ready! He'd only been in Storybrooke a day!

"Shit shit shit shit shit," Neal murmured under his breath as he walked briskly past the shops, which were just beginning to close.

As he walked, one sign in particular stood out to him.

_'__Mr Gold's Pawn Shop.'_

Leroy had called his father 'Gold.' This had to be the place he was looking for.

Neal paused just before the shop window and shook out his hands. He had to do this; he had to do it for August; for Emma; for himself. I mean, he didn't have to stay _that_ long, right? All he had to do was walk in, tell his father he was here and to leave August alone and then leave.

"Oh, great idea Baelfire," He muttered to himself, "Walk into your estranged father's shop after a few hundred years and tell him to lay off your mate. Brilliant. He'll totally buy it."

His father probably wouldn't even recognise him, let alone _do_ anything for him. Neal exhaled loudly and looked back the way he'd just come.

"I can't do it," He whispered.

* * *

><p><em>The Enchanted Forest, c. 200 years ago<em>

_"__Come on, Papa!" Baelfire called over his shoulder as he soldiered on through the woods._

_"__Slow down, boy!" His father called back, struggling to keep up with his son who was considerably smaller and could therefore wriggle through the tight gaps between the gnarled trees._

_Bae stopped and waited impatiently for his father to catch up._

_"__We're almost there now," He said, taking his father's hand and pulling him on through the woods._

_"__Where exactly _is _there?" Rumple asked, following closely behind his son._

_Bae didn't answer, he just kept marching on through the forest._

_"__Here," He said, stopping in a clearing._

_"__This is it?" Rumple asked, confused, "I thought you said you'd found away to another world?"_

_"__I have," Bae told him, pulling a small, milky coloured bean out of his pocket and holding it up for his father to see._

_Rumple's eyes widened, "Where did you get that?" He gaped at his son._

_"__I asked the Blue Fairy for help, and she gave me this."_

_"__Oh son, you didn't!" Rumple cried, "Fairy magic doesn't mix well with what I am!"_

_"__Papa, please! You promised!" Bae pleaded with his father, "Please! I want my father back."_

_Rumple looked down at his son, whose eyes were brimming with tears. He took a shaky breath and held out his arms, pulling his son into a tight hug._

_"__Okay son," He whispered, clutching him close to his chest._

_He released his son and paused._

_"__Before we go, I want to give you your birthday present, to mark the end of all this; the end of magic in our lives." Rumple dug around in his pockets and pulled out a small brown package tied up with a soft black ribbon._

_"__One year ago," Rumple began, twirling the package in his hands, "On the day that you turned fourteen, I made a..._bad _decision. There were other ways to go about getting what I needed, but I was desperate. I couldn't lose you, Baelfire." His voice shook as he spoke, "I couldn't lose the only good thing I have to show for my life." Rumple took a deep breath before continuing, "So I want to give you this, as a reminder that there was a time before this when we were happy, and there will be a time after this when we are happy again."_

_Baelfire smiled up at his father and said, "What is it?"_

_Rumple held out the package._

_"__Why don't you find out for yourself?"_

* * *

><p>Neal took about three strides back towards the B &amp; B before his mind changed again. He simply couldn't do this to August. Yes, August had made a pretty crap decision in making a deal with his father, but this was his <em>life<em> Neal held in his hands. He couldn't be selfish; he had to at least _try_. After all, it was about time he and his father were reunited. It _had_ been about 200 years since they'd last seen each other. Even though they'd had their issues, to say the least, they were still family. And although he would never say it aloud, there had been times when he had missed his father; felt like he'd needed him. Times he'd wished his father had been there with him.

He slowly crept back towards the entrance to the shop, pausing yet again just before the shop window. He felt ill, and was shaking violently. He didn't know why he was so nervous, it wasn't like he'd done anything wrong. What had happened hadn't been his fault. If anything, his father was the one who deserved to feel like this. _He_ had been the one who'd broken his promise, it had been _him_ who'd chosen power over family, _he'd_ let his only son fall through a portal to grow up alone. Neal did _not_ have to feel bad. He did not have to feel scared or nervous. It was his father who should be worried.

He put his hand up to his collar and pulled off the necklace he always wore, scrunching it up in his hand. There _was_ a way to do this quickly, and Neal knew exactly how to do it.

* * *

><p><em>The Enchanted Forest, c. 200 years ago<em>

_Baelfire took the small package out of his father's hand and pulled on the smooth ribbon. It fell undone and the paper slipped away, revealing a small leather necklace. And attached to it was..._

_"__Your mother's wedding ring." Rumple explained, "I wanted you to have it. You don't have enough of your mother, nowhere near as much as you deserve. With this," He indicated the ring, "You can feel closer to her."_

_Baelfire turned the ring over and over in his hand before slipping the leather around his neck._

_"__I'll never take it off," He whispered, before wrapping his arms tightly around his father's waist._

_"__I love you Baelfire," Rumple whispered softly into his son's hair, squeezing his arms gently around him._

_"__I love you too, Papa."_

_Baelfire then held up the bean again._

_"__It's time to go."_

* * *

><p>Neal strode quickly up to the door of the shop and opened it before he could change his mind. The 'ding' of the bell above the door sounded more like a death toll to Neal. His heart was racing and his breaths were coming in quick, rapid puffs. He squeezed his hand around his necklace and stepped up to the main counter.<p>

He heard footsteps and the slight clunk of a cane against a wooden floor behind a curtain to his left. He clenched his hands even tighter to stop them from shaking.

_'__He won't recognise you, he won't recognise you, he won't recognise you,' _He thought to himself.

The curtain was flicked back and Neal saw for the first time in 200 years the face of his father.

The man just stared at him for a few seconds before asking, "Can I help you?"

Neal cleared his throat to delay time whilst he fought back the tears and shaky voice that were threatening to rise up.

"I, uh...I'm here about..." He said thickly.

Neal's father stepped forward and asked, "I'm sorry, but I do not believe I have seen you around here before."

"Yeah, I, uh...I'm new to town." Neal stammered, looking anywhere but at his father's face.

He felt his father's gaze fixed on him. He took a deep breath and looked up into his father's eyes.

What he saw was unrecognizable to him. The last time he'd looked into those eyes had been when they were widened with fear, still showing a deep love for the boy they looked at. But now, Neal saw none of that. What he saw were the eyes of a man who'd been hardened by years of being alone and unloved. He saw the eyes of a man who had only turned completely dark after he'd lost the only light left in his life.

He saw the eyes of a good man tuned evil.

"I'm sorry, did you need something?" His father's voice dragged Neal out of his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. I came to ask you a favour."

Gold's eyebrows shot up and a smirk flashed across his face, "Oh really? And what's that?"

"I want you to leave August Booth alone." Neal looked his father straight in the face when he said this.

Gold just laughed and said, "And why would I do that?"

This made Neal angry. All possible feelings of affection that might have been stirred up by seeing his father again vanished. It seems that it didn't matter who he hurt or whose life he ruined, his father would always be the same – an evil, selfish coward. And by doing what he did next, Neal proved that he was _nothing_ like his father.

"His end of the bargain is done," Neal slammed the hand holding his necklace down on the counter, turned around and walked out, leaving the necklace behind.

He was halfway back down the street before Gold even registered what had happened.

* * *

><p><em>The Enchanted Forest, c. 200 years ago<em>

_Baelfire threw the bean down on the ground before him and waited patiently. He squeezed his father's hand as the bean began to glow a bright green and the ground began to split. Suddenly, the bean exploded completely and a swirling green vortex appeared, sucking in leaves and dirt from the surrounding area._

_"__WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH!" Bae yelled over the cacophony of sound that had arisen from the portal._

_He pulled his father forwards and down the ditch towards the portal. He felt himself being pulled towards the centre of the vortex like two magnets being attracted to each other._

_"__NO!" Rumple cried, "I CAN'T! IT WILL TEAR US TO PIECES!"_

_"__YOU CAN! YOU HAVE TO!" Bae yelled at his father._

_The ground beneath him collapsed and the pair fell even closer to the portal. They were sliding gradually towards the green depths when Rumple pulled out his dagger and stabbed it sharply into the ground._

_"__WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Bae cried, "YOU PROMISED PAPA! PLEASE!"_

_"__I CAN'T! I CAN'T!"_

_Bae looked deep into his father's eyes. It was only for a second, but it felt like an eternity. In that moment, he saw how much his father loved him. He saw all the good moments they'd had together, he saw all the times his father had cheered him up. He saw the time his father had saved him from the soldiers and he saw the time he'd crawled into his father's bed when horses had gone charging past their home one night._

_But then he saw his father's fear. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how much magic and power his father gained, no matter how much he wanted to be brave for his son, he would _never _be able to do it. He'd never change, not for his son,, not for anyone. His addiction to power was just too strong. He would always be a coward, and that is exactly what Baelfire told him._

_"__YOU COWARD!" He yelled, "I HATE YOU! YOU PROMISED! PAPA!" He felt his father's hand slip through his, saw it clench onto his dagger; saw the moment that his father chose his magic over his son._

_And then he fell through the portal and that final image of his father was ripped away._

* * *

><p>Neal practically ran back to the B &amp; B, before deciding that he couldn't face seeing anyone now. Not yet. He dug around in his pockets and almost laughed in relief when he found his car keys. He ran to the car park; knees shaking, scrambled to unlock the bug and collapsed into the driver's seat. He rammed the key into the ignition and fired up the engine.<p>

The bug's wheels span, leaving a stench of burning rubber as he shot off towards the town line, a million and one thoughts racing through his head.

He didn't notice the car's speedometer reaching towards 90 miles an hour. He didn't notice which side of the road he was on. He didn't notice the blind bend he shot around too fast.

He couldn't have stopped himself colliding with the truck if he'd tried.


	17. Wait

**Hey guys, so just to clear a small thing up – Where I live, a 'truck' refers to a 4x4 like a Jeep or Land Rover. There has been some confusion that Neal got hit by a huge lorry or something, but it's not that. Sorry for the confusion! I hope you enjoy this update, I'm sorry that it's a bit short. As you know, I am a bit short of time recently :( ****X**

* * *

><p>Leroy was driving back from doing some maintenance near the town line. He was impatient to get home, and might have been going slightly over the limit.<p>

He was driving around the bend that would lead him to the straight stretch of road that would take him through the centre of town when suddenly a yellow blur shot around the corner, heading straight for him. It was a car. A car driving down the wrong side of the road.

Leroy cursed and swerved to try and avoid a collision, but the car clipped the side of the truck and span, flipping and rolling to the bank on the other side of the road and miraculously landing the right way up. Leroy's truck was sturdy and span a few times, but did not flip.

"Shit!" Leroy cursed once he'd stopped spinning, fumbling to undo his seatbelt and jumping out of the truck.

He ran over to the wreck of the car and peered into the driver's side window.

"NEAL!" He yelled when he saw the unconscious body of the man he'd met earlier that day. "Crazy son-of-a-bitch," He muttered, tugging at the door handle in vain.

It was jammed shut. Leroy pulled his mobile phone and dialled 911. He quickly asked for an ambulance and then all he could do was wait, hopping from foot to foot to keep himself occupied.

"Come on, come on, come on," He tried the door again and failed again.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, he started to hear the faint whine of sirens in the distance. He breathed a sigh of relief and ran over to meet the paramedics when the ambulance finally arrived.

* * *

><p>Emma placed her toothbrush down on the sink and leaned against it. She stared into the mirror in front of her. She was slightly worried about Neal – August had come through about an hour ago to say he'd just popped into town briefly, but surely he should have been back by now? What could he be doing that was taking so long? She slouched out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. She slipped into bed and tried to put her mind at rest. He'd probably just lost track of time. It was only about an hour later when she'd finally began to drift off to sleep when there was a loud, urgent knock at the door.<p>

"Emma! Open up!" Emma recognised the voice as August's.

She groaned and rolled over, sliding groggily out of bed. She stumbled over to the door and opened it.

"August, what the hell?" She asked, squinting in the light of the corridor.

"Emma, sorry if I... if I woke you... but I..." August was breathless and stumbling over his words, "I had to...to tell you..."

Emma frowned, "August, what's wrong? Where's Neal, why isn't he back yet?"

August looked at her with something all too familiar to Emma in his eyes – sympathy.

"August what's happened?" Emma asked, dead serious.

August took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, "Leroy just called me. He said...he said that..."

Emma grabbed August's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes, "August what has happened to Neal?"

"He was in an accident. He's been rushed to hospital."

* * *

><p>Leroy hung up the phone to August and ran into the hospital behind the army of paramedics and doctors who were bustling around Neal. He was still unconscious, and the paramedics had refused to tell Leroy anything about his condition.<p>

He tried to go through a set of double doors with them to find out what was wrong with Neal but a doctor grabbed him from behind.

"Hey, we need to get you checked out."

"But I-"

"No buts. You could be badly hurt."

"Listen to me, Sunshine," Leroy growled, "My friend is being taken into intensive care because I hit him with my truck. He might have been driving like a loony but I feel responsible and I want to know what's wrong with him. Now let. Me. Go."

The doctor just stood in a stunned silence and watched as Leroy strode through the doors as quickly as his legs could carry him.

* * *

><p>Emma stuffed some shoes on her feet, chucked a hoodie on over her pyjama top and shot out the door behind August. They ran down the stairs together and jumped onto August's bike, this time neither of them bothering with the helmet. Emma wrapped her arms around August's waist without guilt this time. August revved the engine and sped towards the hospital as quickly as he could whilst staying under the speed limit.<p>

When they arrived Emma threw herself off the bike and charged through the hospital doors. She ran up to the front desk and said, "My boyfriend just got brought in, he was in a car accident and I really _really_ need to see him."

The receptionist was slightly taken aback by Emma's urgency, but recovered quickly. She was probably used to it.

"What's the name?" She asked calmly.

"Neal, Neal Cassidy," Emma told her.

The receptionist tapped away at her keyboard and looked at something on the screen.

"I'm afraid he's in surgery at the minute. But you can go and sit in the waiting room. It's down the corridor and the second on the left. I think there's someone in there already.

"Thank you," Emma ran off down the corridor, August following closely behind her. They got into the waiting room and found Leroy sat alone in the corner. When he saw Emma he jumped up and walked towards her.

"Emma, I'm so so sorry," He began to explain, but Emma just help a hand up to silence him.

"Leroy, please just tell me what happened."

As Leroy began to tell Emma his story, August felt his phone go off in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw a name on his screen – Mr Gold.

He cursed, remembering how Neal had been to see his father before the accident. This thought caused guilt to flood through August's body. Neal would never have gone out if August hadn't told him about his deal with Gold.

He answered his phone and exited the waiting room.

"Hello?"

_"__Mr Booth. I believe we need to talk."_

August's stomach lurched. He knew exactly what was coming.

"Yes, I suppose we do," August sighed, resigning himself to defeat. The secret was out now.

_"__You told me my son was not here." Gold hissed, "So you can imagine my surprise when a young man walked into my shop earlier today holding an item that my son swore would never leave his person. I drew the obvious conclusion – You lied to me. Do you know what happens to people who lie to me?"_

August shuddered. He could only imagine the horrors that came upon those who lied to Mr Gold.

"Look, Mr Gold, yeah. I lied to you. But before you get mad at me about that, I really think you should get down to the hospital." August didn't know what was going to happen to Neal, he didn't know whether he would live or die. But he did know that he would never forgive himself if Neal did die and Mr Gold didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to his only son. Gold was a jerk, but he didn't deserve that. No one did.

_"__What business would I have at the hospital?" _Gold sounded genuinely surprised.

"Well, for the very same reason you called me in the first place. Your son." August told him before hanging up. He exhaled loudly, hoping that he had made the right decision in telling Gold.

Either way, he would be finding out. Soon.

* * *

><p>Gold heard a click at the end of the line, informing him that August had hung up on him. He was conflicted – August might have been bluffing. The man that came to see him earlier may not have been his son. August could have got the necklace off of Baelfire and then just given it to any random person to bring to the shop. Him being summoned to the hospital could all be part of an elaborate hoax.<p>

But...It could also be true. His boy could be lying in a hospital bed, maybe even dying, and if he didn't go to see him then he might never get the chance to see his son again. He _had_ to go.

He grabbed his keys, locked the shop and drove to the hospital. He strode into reception and was greeted by August.

"Thank God you came," He jogged towards him and began to lead the way to the waiting room.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Gold reminded him.

"I know, I know. But...Let's just see how Neal does before we get to that."

"Neal?" Gold asked.

"Well, 'Baelfire' isn't exactly a common name in this world." August told him, "So if the nurses ask, you are Neal Cassidy's father."

* * *

><p>Emma paced impatiently around the waiting room. August had vanished about ten minutes ago without explaining where he was going, and the nurses weren't telling her <em>anything<em> about Neal's condition.

She flopped down into a chair next to Leroy and began to tap her foot impatiently.

Eventually, August returned to the waiting room with an older man who walked with a cane.

She stood up, "Have you heard anything?"

"No. But...I did call Neal's father. I thought that he should be here."

Emma eyebrows shot up, "You did what? August, Neal only ever told me how much he _hated_ his father. _Why_ would you bring him here?" She didn't even care that the man was stood right in front of her. From what she'd heard, he deserved to know how his son loathed him.

The older man remained surprisingly quiet. He didn't seem anything like Neal had described.

"I know Emma. But imagine if it was Henry. I know you only just met him, but just imagine. Wouldn't you want to know if anything happened to him?"

"There's only the slight difference that my son doesn't hate me!" Emma snapped, hoping that it was true.

"I'm not talking about how your son would feel about you. I'm talking about how you would feel about your son. Just imagine how worried you'd be."

Emma sighed and realised that August had a point. No matter how much Neal might hate his father, his father still loved him.

"Fine, he can stay. But _when_ Neal wakes up, you can tell him how this was _your_ idea."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" The man asked.

Emma looked at him, surprised at him suddenly finding his voice. August also looked at him, wondering why he was asking questions he already knew the answer to.

"I'm Neal's girlfriend. My name's Emma, Emma Swan."

"Emma...What a lovely name." He smiled at her.

"Um...Thanks?" Emma replied.

"My name is Mr Gold," He held out a hand, but Emma didn't take it. "Ah," He said, "I see my son really has worked his magic on you," Gold's eyes were glinting.

"He's told me enough to know that after this is over; once Neal is better...We are having _nothing_ more to do with you."

Gold smirked slightly, "We shall see."

He then sat down in the chair next to Emma and waited. It was all any of them could do.

Wait.


	18. Believe In Magic

**Aloha all, I hope you enjoy this update. Two chapters in two days, I'm on a roll :O :D Although it's another short one :/ Enjoy this update y'all! And to the guest who suggested a prompt to me on my one-shot - if you read this - I would love to write about it! If you have a fanfic account, please PM me so we can talk about it :) X**

* * *

><p>Emma was fed up of sitting in the waiting room. Leroy had fallen asleep about half an hour ago, August and Gold sat on the other side of the room talking quietly, and Emma had heard no updates on Neal's condition in at least an hour. The nurses had said that he was now out of surgery and in intensive care, but could have no visitors until he had stabilised. So she had waited patiently for the first 5 minutes before getting impatient for something to happen. She just wanted to see Neal.<p>

She was just considering maybe trying to get some sleep (It was ridiculously early in the morning by now,) when a man with a lot of stubble walked into the waiting room.

August looked up when he saw him, "Well it took you long enough! Why the delay, Sheriff?"

Emma's head snapped up to look at the Sheriff.

"Sorry, I was working on another case and I _still_ haven't found a deputy." The Sheriff sighed. He looked exhausted. "I need to talk to the driver of the truck, please."

All eyes in the room looked at Leroy's sleeping figure. He snored on, unaware of all the attention. Emma kicked his butt with her foot, jogging him awake.

"Wha-" He sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Sheriff's here to see you." Emma told him.

Leroy looked over at the Sheriff and cursed, "C'mon man, I was on a roll. I haven't been to the station in a month!"

"Well we don't have to take this to the station. I just need a statement." The Sheriff told him.

Leroy groaned and slouched out of the waiting room, the Sheriff following close behind him.

* * *

><p>Regina placed her mobile down on her bedside table and slid out of her double bed. She quickly pulled on some clothes, brushed her hair and put on a little make-up. Sheriff Graham had just informed her of an accident near the town border, but what had sparked her interest was the name of one of the men involved – Neal Cassidy. If Henry's father had been in an accident, she wanted to know <em>everything.<em> And she also wanted to make sure her son didn't find out just yet – it would only make him more interested in them and less interested in her. She needed to play this carefully and keep it from Henry until the moment was right.

She poked her head around Henry's bedroom door to check that he was still sleeping. She'd only be gone an hour, surely he'd be fine? Regina paused to consider phoning a baby sitter, but no one would be available at this time of night. She shook her head and quietly slipped out into the night. She started the engine of her car and drove towards the hospital.

Inside, Henry opened his eyes and slipped out of bed. He pulled on a hoodie and some jeans, grabbed his backpack and followed his mother out of the door. He'd woken up and heard her on the phone to the Sheriff, and he wanted to know what the Evil Queen was doing going out in the middle of the night.

Whatever it was, he decided that it couldn't be good.

* * *

><p>Leroy eventually shuffled back into the waiting room and threw himself back down into his chair.<p>

"Leroy, go home." Emma told him, "We'll call you if we hear anything."

Leroy looked at her, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Yes you are. This wasn't your fault. You said Neal was driving like an idiot, so you shouldn't feel guilty. Go home and get some rest."

Leroy glared at Emma for a few moments before sighing in defeat and leaving the room.

The Sheriff walked in and looked at Emma.

"You're Mr Cassidy's partner?" He asked.

"Yeah," Emma said, "Why?"

"I'm Sheriff Graham. I'd like to ask you a few questions. It's not often that we get visitors here in Storybrooke, let alone visitors that are involved in accidents within 24 hours of getting here."

"Right, well, what do you want to know?" Emma asked.

"Erm, well, do you wanna go somewhere private?" The Sheriff asked, glancing around the room, his eyes lingering on Mr Gold.

"No. It's fine we can do this here."

Emma sat down and indicated that Graham should do the same. He did, and then started asking questions.

"Okay, so can you tell me what you and Neal are doing here in Storybrooke?"

"We came to see our son." Emma said firmly, noticing how Gold still didn't seem comfortable with the idea of being a grandfather.

"Your son?" Graham asked, scribbling on his notepad.

"Yeah, his name is Henry."

"Oh, so _you're_ the Emma Swan I've heard about."

"You've heard of me?" Emma asked, surprised.

"Small town. Well, small enough that news spreads quickly."

Emma nodded, her eyes narrowed. There was something not right about that.

"Anyway, I'm the one asking the questions." Graham said, "And where did the two of you come from?"

"Portland." Emma told him.

"And how long were you intending to stay?"

"Well, we didn't know. A while, but nothing was definite."

"Where was Mr Cassidy going when he went out on this drive?" Graham asked.

This was when Emma began to get uncomfortable. "I don't know." She said truthfully, "He'd gone out to see to something in town, but I don't know what. The next thing I heard was that he'd been rushed to hospital."

"So if he was seeing to something in town, why was he headed for the town border? Why would he be leaving town if you'd decided to stay for a while?"

"I don't know," Emma told him through gritted teeth, "You'll have to ask him."

"Well as you know, he is currently..._unavailable_." Graham said, still scribbling things down.

Emma glared at him, "Is that all?" She asked.

"Not quite. What about Mr Cassidy's criminal record?"

Emma gaped at him and swallowed nervously. "Criminal record?" She asked.

"Well apparently he is wanted for theft. Has been for about 11 years now."

Emma stared at him. This was bringing back all the wrong memories. "I, erm..."

Mr Gold stood up and crossed to the Sheriff, "I think that's enough questions for now, Sheriff. Miss Swan is tired and has been through a lot."

Graham looked up at Gold, unprepared to argue with him.

"Bullshit." A voice came from the entrance to the waiting room.

Emma's head turned and saw the mayor stood in the doorway.

"Regina...Um, I mean...Mayor Mills. What are you doing here?"

"Well you said it yourself dear, I'm the mayor. When there is reckless driving in my town, I hear about it." She turned to the Sheriff, "Sheriff, I would like Ms Swan escorted to the station for questioning. There is clearly a _lot_ more to our visitors than meets the eye. And I want a police guard outside Mr Cassidy's room until he is able to answer some questions."

The Sheriff simply nodded, turned to Emma and asked, "Please come with me, Ms Swan."

"I'm not going anywhere," Emma told him, glaring at Regina.

"Oh yes you are, Ms Swan. You are involved with a wanted criminal."

Emma just continued to glare at her before saying, "I am going nowhere."

"Then I'm afraid I shall just have to arrest you." The Sheriff said, pulling out a pair of handcuffs and cuffing Emma's hands behind her back.

"What the- Hey!" Emma struggled, but Graham was stronger than he looked.

"NO!" Someone screamed from outside before charging into the waiting room.

"Henry!" Regina yelled, "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Stopping you from doing this!" Henry told her, standing next to Emma, "Why are you arresting my mum?"

"Because she is a criminal, Henry," Regina told him sternly, taking his arm and pulling him away from Emma, "And your father." She signalled for Graham to remove Emma, who did not leave without a fight and some colourful language.

"Mum!" Henry yelled, running after Emma, "Mum what's going on?"

"Henry, your dad was in an accident near the town line. But don't worry, he'll be fine!" She called, pulling against Graham.

A look of fear came over Henry's face. "The town line? Why was he leaving?" He jogged to catch up, but heard Regina following quickly behind him.

"I don't know Henry. Just don't worry about him, okay?"

Emma was dragged through the doors to the hospital and Regina caught up to Henry, grabbing his arm.

"You are in big trouble young man." She told him, marching him towards the door. "How did you even _get_ here?"

"I cycled," Henry told her, "Why do you have to ruin _everything?_" He yanked his arm out of his mother's grip. "Why can't you just let me be happy?"

"Henry!" Regina gasped, "I am just doing my job. Your mother and father are criminals; I can't just let them loose around town."

"No, you just want to destroy _everyone's _happiness! You don't care about whether they're criminals or not! You just want everybody to be miserable so you can be happy!" Henry screamed before running out of the doors.

"Henry!" Regina yelled, running after him. But he was gone. Regina sighed and headed to her car. She'd have to drive around and look for him.

* * *

><p>Henry ran around the side of the hospital and back in through a side door. He found his way back to the waiting room and found August preparing to leave.<p>

"Hey! August!" Henry called, jogging up to him.

"Henry? Shouldn't you be with your mother?"

"No," Henry scowled, "She doesn't care about me."

"Don't be silly," August crouched down in front of him, "She loves you."

Henry looked August in the eye. "August, why was my dad leaving town? People don't just _leave_ Storybrooke. Bad things happen to them!"

"How come?" August frowned.

"Because there is a curse. The whole town is cursed! People can't leave because they are cursed to stay here and be miserable whilst my mother gets her happy ending! She wants to get rid of Emma because she is the Saviour. Only she can break the curse!"

August stared at Henry. "Henry, how do you know all this?"

"It was in a book that was given to me, but I lost it." Henry said sadly. "But it told me all about the people in this town, they are all fairy tale characters trapped in this world by the Evil Queen."

"You mean Regina?"

"Yeah, she is the Evil Queen. And Emma is Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, that's why Regina hates her so much! That's why she had her arrested - not because of my dad but because she just doesn't want to risk Emma breaking the curse."

August sighed, "I know, Henry. I know."

"You...You believe me?" Henry asked, surprised.

August smiled at him. "Let's just say that I'm a believer. And I wanna help others see the light."

Henry looked at him. "Will you help me stop the Evil Queen?"

"Henry that is the reason that I am here."

"I thought you were here to write?" Henry was confused.

"I am. I'm here to help write the end of that book you told me about. And to do that, we need to make your mum believe."

"Believe in what?"

"Believe in magic."


	19. Operation Cobra

**Guys I have decided I am totally starting a PapaFire AU because they are the cutest things EVER and omfg I just can't. Anyways, enjoy this update. I know some of you were curious as to why Regina would be so careless as to make David a teaching assistant...Here's your answer ;) X**

* * *

><p>Mary Margaret stood at the front of the class, observing the children as they made their birdhouses. She saw David crouched down next to Grace, helping her glue some decorations to the outside of her house. She smiled at seeing all of the children so happy. However, her smile soon faded when she saw Henry sat alone in the back corner of the room, staring at David and Grace.<p>

She slowly wandered over to him, "Hey Henry," She smiled, pulling a chair over and sitting opposite him. "How come you aren't making your birdhouse?"

Henry glanced over at her. He looked exhausted. "I want to see my dad," He told her sadly.

Mary Margaret sighed. She'd heard that Henry's birth parents were in Storybrooke, although she was yet to meet them. She had also heard about the accident that his father had been in a few days ago. Henry had clearly taken it hard.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," She smiled, "Didn't the doctors say he was getting better?"

"They said he was stable, but he is in a coma and my mum won't let me go and see him. She won't even let me out of the house. And I haven't seen Emma since the accident. I've lost my book and I just want to know that my dad is okay!"

Mary Margaret took his hand, "Henry, things will be okay. Your book is probably just buried in your house somewhere, I'm sure you'll find it eventually. And maybe once your dad wakes up your mum will let you go see him. She probably just doesn't want you to get upset."

Mary Margaret paused when she heard someone walk up behind her. It was David.

"Hey," She said, surprised that he had come to see her. He was normally very independent in the classroom and didn't need to ask her for help.

"Where do you want them to put their birdhouses to dry?" He asked, smiling down at her.

"They're finishing already? Wow," Mary Margaret was shocked, "Well, if you just put some newspaper over the first row of desks then they can dry there over break."

David smiled and nodded before walking away. His gaze lingered slightly too long on Miss Blanchard for it to be normal.

Henry looked at him curiously as he walked away, "Miss Blanchard, where did Mr Nolan come from? I'd never seen him around before he came to work here."

Henry had first met Mr Nolan a few months ago when he first started working at the school. He didn't know where he had been before then, and he'd never thought to ask.

"Well, Mr Nolan's story is quite long Henry, and I'm not sure that it's my place tell it." Mary Margaret replied.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because it involves some private matters, and I don't want to tell you in case Mr Nolan doesn't want people to know."

Henry looked back at Mr Nolan, who was now helping some of his classmates put their birdhouses onto the desks to dry.

"Okay, I'll ask him instead." Henry smiled, before beginning to work on his own birdhouse.

Mary Margaret was slightly taken aback by this sudden change in mood, but was happy to see Henry working. She got up and left him to it.

* * *

><p>Once everyone else had gone out for break, Henry slowly approached Mr Nolan, who was organising the birdhouses on the newspaper.<p>

"Hi Mr Nolan," Henry leaned on the newspaper-covered desk.

"Oh, hey Henry!" Mr Nolan smiled, looking up from the birdhouse he was organising on the paper.

Henry watched him for a minute before asking, "Mr Nolan, where did you work before you came here?"

"Before this I worked at an animal shelter, but that was a few years ago now." Mr Nolan explained.

"But you've only been here for a few months. What did you do in between?"

Mr Nolan laughed slightly before saying, "Well, I had to take my teachers' course to be able to work here, and before that I uh... I had some time off."

"How come?"

"For personal reasons, Henry. Now why don't you go out and play with the others?"

It was clear to Henry that Mr Nolan wasn't going to tell him anything useful. But he thought he might have an idea who would...Someone who had arrived in Storybrooke just before Mr Nolan had appeared. It was just a case of getting away from his mother...

* * *

><p>August was sat outside Granny's drinking coffee and wondering how he was going to continue to explain things to Emma. Since finding out that Neal was in town, Gold had slowed the spread of the wood across August's body. Of course, August not telling Gold about Neal being in town had given Gold the perfect excuse to go back on his end of the deal and let August continue to do his dirty work. He was concerned about how involved Gold was with Emma now – he had offered her legal advice and managed to get her and Neal off the hook with the feds. Neal's 'Wanted' status had magically disappeared after Gold had gotten involved, and August wanted to know what his game was. He never did anything without asking for something in return, even if it was for family. Emma needed to watch her back around him, and August was going to make sure that he had her back just in case.<br>He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Henry running up to him until he had flopped down into the chair next to him.

"Henry, what's up?" August asked, a startled look on his face.

I was hoping you could tell me about Mr Nolan." Henry told him, "But I've got to be quick, before my mum realises I'm gone."

"You mean David? There's not a lot to tell. Why do you need to know?"

"Because there are holes in his story. He just appeared out of nowhere not long after you arrived in Storybrooke, and no one will say where he was."

August sighed, "Henry, David was in a coma for years. Your mother found him, actually, unconscious on the side of the road. He was a John Doe in hospital until he woke up last year, only able to remember one name – Kathryn. She turned out to be his wife, and she helped him to remember everything about himself."

"But how did he lie in hospital for years without anyone noticing he was missing? Without anyone reporting his disappearance to the police?"

"Well I don't know the whole story Henry, but there was something to do with a fall out between him and his wife; she thought he'd left town for good. Then when the Sheriff began to look for a 'Kathryn' in Storybrooke they soon tracked her down. It took a couple of months for David to remember completely, and then I guess he decided to become a teaching assistant, and that's what he did. For some reason the mayor wasn't too pleased with his career choice."

"That's because she doesn't want him around Miss Blanchard." Henry explained. "You see, Miss Blanchard is really Snow White, and Mr Nolan is her husband, Prince Charming. The curse was supposed to separate them forever, so my mum could get her happy ending, right?"

"Right..." August said.

"So when Mr Nolan woke up and decided to become a teaching assistant, it meant he would be close to Miss Blanchard, therefore defeating the point of the curse. I would have thought that the curse would have kept them apart for good, maybe kept Mr Nolan in his..."

"What?" August asked when Henry paused.

Henry looked up at August, a new light in his eyes, "You. It was because of you."

August frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Things started changing when _you_ showed up in Storybrooke. Strangers don't come to Storybrooke! But when _you_ came, Mr Nolan woke up from his coma! Things started to change for the first time since the curse was cast!"

"But what does that mean, kid? I'm not the Saviour, Emma is."

"I think..." Henry paused, "I think it means that things have been building up since you got here. Things have been building up for something...Something big."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. But whatever it is, we need to prepare for it."

"And how do we do that?" August asked.

"I don't know, I'm 10." Henry told him, standing up. "We'll have to work on that, as well as getting Emma to believe so we can break the curse. We _have_ to bring back the happy endings, we're the only ones who can!"

August laughed, "Oh really? So it's like our secret mission?"

"Like an operation. We could call it..." Henry bit his lip.

"We have to name it?" August laughed, "Make sure it's a code name, so no one will know what we are talking about."

There was a pause, then:

"Operation Cobra."

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you guys had an awesome Halloween! :3 Oh, and yes, I am British. Some of you were noticing the 'mum' instead of 'mom' etc. It just takes so much for me to remember to write this in American-English, so I'm gonna stick to English. I hope this doesn't confuse you!<strong>


	20. Guilt

**I am so sorry that I am not updating regularly! I am just so busy at the minute, I have mock exams coming up in December and revision leaves little time for fanfic, unfortunately :( ****But I hope you continue to enjoy this story! ****X**

* * *

><p>Mr Gold sat in the single lonely chair in the hospital room, anxiously looking at his son's lifeless body. It had been a week now since the accident, and the doctors were telling him infuriatingly few details about his son's condition. He was trying his best for Bae's sake to keep calm and not lose his temper, and to also keep his magic secret. It would do him no good to go around turning people into snails left right and centre, although he had come close on several occasions. He also wanted to be able to give a halfway decent first impression when – if – his son woke up. He knew that it was unlikely that Baelfire would come running back into his arms, but he wanted to try his best to improve his relationship with his son. He would do everything in his power and more if it meant he could have his son back. He slowly reached out and gently placed his hand on top of Bae's closing his fingers around it, squeezing it to make sure that he was real. His son was really there, in front of him, after all these years, after all his hard work, after all the pain and loneliness. He was really lying in a coma in a hospital bed with a huge question mark hanging over his future. And Gold felt responsible. If he had acted differently when Bae had walked into the shop then maybe he wouldn't have gone off for a drive. Maybe he would have stayed and they might have had the chance to talk. But here they were, father and son reunited at last, in the worst way possible.<p>

Suddenly the door swished open and Emma Swan walked in. She saw Gold sat next to the bed and froze.

"I'm sorry, I'll jus-"

"No no, please stay." Gold told her, removing his hand from Bae's and standing up to allow Emma to sit down, "I'll give you some space."

"Thanks," Emma said, frowning slightly at the act of kindness. As Gold moved to leave the room, Emma turned around, "Hey, Mr Gold?"

He turned back to face her.

"Thank you for sorting out the...Y'know. With the cops. It was the last thing we needed right now."

"It was no worry." Gold told her, "Just remember what we discussed. You may be almost family, but should I need it...You owe me a favour."

Emma swallowed nervously and nodded. She didn't know how Gold had done it, and she questioned the legitimate nature of his actions, but she didn't want to question it. The last thing she and Neal needed was to be arrested when they'd just found their son.

She heard the door click shut behind Gold as he left the room and wandered slowly over to sit in the chair next to Neal's bed. She gazed at him and longed for him to wake up, to just sit up and wrap his strong arms around her and tell her everything was going to be okay. She longed for the deep brown safety of his eyes and she longed for the comforting tones of his voice. She couldn't stay angry at him for lying to her, because she realised now that she was nothing without him. She'd always tried her best to be strong, and God knows her childhood had toughened her no end, but those years of her life when she had been apart from him had been like her own personal hell. She needed him like she needed air, and right now without him she was suffocating.

"Please wake up Neal," She whispered, laying an arm across his chest, her eyes rimmed with tears. "Please come back to me."

She felt responsible for his accident. She had dragged him here, yes to see his own son, but it was her that had forced him to come to a place he had no desire to go to. Perhaps if they'd stayed in Portland things would have been okay. He could have started his new job, they could have saved up and they could have gone to Tallahassee. Maybe Henry could have come to visit them instead of them going to him. Then things might have happened differently. The only thing Emma could do to distract her from her guilt was do the exact thing she'd come here to do – find answers. She wasn't going to have made this trip in vain. She wasn't going to have brought Neal here for nothing. She was going to find what she came for.

Emma leaned over and kissed Neal softly on the cheek before standing up and walking out. She had an appointment with August; she'd asked him to continue telling her his story about why she was needed here. She strode swiftly out of the hospital and drove off towards Granny's.

* * *

><p>August sat on his bike outside Granny's. He'd been frequenting this same spot since Emma and Neal had arrived, simply because it had been the spot he'd been in when he's first seen the yellow bug emerging out of the mist, when he'd seen the hope that actually things might be okay and his deal with Gold could be completed. Now, however, he stood there feeling guilty about Neal. If August hadn't have panicked and called Neal, or told him about his deal with his father, then Neal would not have come down so suddenly. He could have done things differently, he could have been prepared for reuniting with his father and then perhaps he wouldn't have been so wrecked after seeing him. He wouldn't have gone for that drive, and he wouldn't have crashed into that truck. But he did go for that drive. And he did crash into that truck. And so August was here in a worse situation than before. He wondered how long it would be before Gold started looking for someone to blame, and he wondered how long it would take before Gold realised that it was August's fault. Then he would pay. There would be no going back after that – he'd be a wooden puppet again before he could even say 'Pinocchio.'<p>

August was snapped out of his thoughts by the arrival of Emma.

"Hey," She said, shoving her car keys in her pocket, "I brought the book like you asked." Emma held the storybook up, and smiled slightly at August. He smiled back weakly and gestured for her to put his helmet on and get on the back of his bike.

Emma wrapped her arms around his waist and said through the helmet, just loud enough for August to hear, "It wasn't your fault, August."

August looked down and blinked back a few tears before revving the engine and taking off towards Henry's house. He needed Emma and Henry to talk, because if anyone could get Emma to believe, it was her son.

* * *

><p><em>Earlier that morning:<em>

"Henry, I'm leaving now!" Regina called from the hallway whilst staring in the mirror as she placed her earrings in.

Henry looked up from his breakfast of waffles and banana, a slight smile forming on his face, "Okay!" He called back.

"I'll be back at around 6." Regina said as she strode quickly into the kitchen and grabbed her handbag off of the kitchen counter, "But these city council meetings are unpredictable, so I may be later."

Henry just nodded. Regina smiled at him one last time, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. Henry wrinkled his nose as she walked out and wiped the lipstick stain off of his cheek.

"Goodbye!" His mother called from the front door.

"Bye," Henry mumbled as he heard the front door click shut.

As soon as he'd heard his mother's car leave the driveway, Henry ditched his breakfast and ran upstairs to his bedroom. He slipped the brick of a mobile phone that August had given him out from under his pillow and quickly texted him to say that the house would be safe until about 6, so he could bring Emma round. He was glad that August was taking him seriously, and he did really believe that August knew about the curse as well. Every other adult Henry had told about the curse hadn't believed him; they'd just played along and treated Henry as a nut job. His mother had even put him in therapy, although Henry rarely attended his sessions with Archie. They just didn't help. Henry liked Archie, he felt quite close to him, and he trusted him, but he couldn't discuss the curse with him. It only led to deep, meaningful questions that Henry didn't know how to answer.

But currently, he was mainly glad that he could discuss the curse with August because it distracted him from thinking about his father. His mother still hadn't allowed Henry to go and see him in hospital, but he'd heard from August that he seemed to be doing okay. He longed to go and visit him. He hadn't gotten the chance to get to know his dad before the accident, but the time that Neal had come to visit him in his bedroom the first day they'd met, he'd felt...different. Henry had never had a father figure before, and it had felt good to be able to talk to someone who could understand him. In those few moments when they had been alone together, Henry felt that he had really connected with his father. And now he was lying in a hospital bed, alone, and possibly never to wake up. Henry felt guilty about that. If it wasn't for him, if he hadn't contacted Emma, then his parents would never have come to Storybrooke. His father would never have been on the road at the time of the accident, and he'd never have collided with Leroy's truck. Henry hadn't seen much of Emma since the day he'd first met her, but he knew that she was devastated. That was his fault too. His parents truly loved each other and-

Henry froze mid-thought. _His parents truly loved each other. _He smiled and picked up the mobile phone again. He quickly texted August again:

_Get Emma here ASAP. I think I know how to wake my dad up._

* * *

><p><strong>So sorry this is just a short update, and it was a pretty boring one, but I really want to keep this story going and unfortunately this was all I had time to write without rushing it and making it really bad. I hope you liked it anyways; it was a little different to the things that I normally write. For those of you who don't know, 'ASAP' stands for 'As soon as possible.' Please don't forget to leave a review! <strong>**X**


	21. True Love's Kiss

**SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY I have felt bad every day I have not updated, I really am trying so hard. I have mock exams in three weeks and I'm freaking out and I've had to prioritise and I'm sorry ****L****I hope you are still interested in my story, though. ****J****Again, sorry about the length of this update but I'm afraid it's all I have time for :( X**

"True loves kiss?" Emma asked incredulously, staring at Henry and August from her seat on Henry's bed. She'd just spent the last half an hour hearing the most ridiculous tale of a curse, magic, and everyone in Storybrooke being a fairy tale character that she was destined to save. Oh, and the small detail that apparently Snow White and Prince Charming were her parents.

"Exactly," Henry told her, his eyes shining, "All you have to do is believe in magic, give my dad true loves kiss and then boom the curse will be broken _and_ we'll have dad back!"

Emma stared at him, slightly open-mouthed. "Henry, could I please have a moment alone with August?"

Henry looked from August to Emma. "Sure," He said, strolling out of the room and closing the door behind her.

Emma waited for a moment to make sure Henry was completely out of earshot before turning to August. "Do you really believe a word of that?"

August gazed at her with his big soft eyes, "Emma, I know it's a lot to take in..."

"Oh crap, you do!" Emma cried, placing her head in her hands, "August, it's crazy! True love doesn't exist! Neither does magic or curses or fairy tale characters or saviours!"

"I hope you're more careful about your choice of words around Henry." August said quietly. "He's delicate Emma, and shattering his beliefs like that could be very damaging to his mind."

Emma raised her eyebrows, "Since when have you been a shrink?"

"I'm no shrink." August told her seriously, "But I have watched Henry be dismissed as crazy by just about everyone in this goddamn town for the last year! It's not fair on him, he's just a kid. And maybe, just maybe...There might be some truth to what he is saying. You saw magic yourself. You drank from that well and your book came back to you. How is that a coincidence, Emma?"

Emma just stared at August, "That's why Neal wanted to bring me here," She whispered, "He believes all this crazy shit too."

"When Neal wakes up, he can help me explain. I'm tired of going about this the ling way. You just need to know everything."

"Finally, someone speaks my language!" Emma threw her hands up in the air, "Answers, yeah, they'd be nice!"

"Emma, please. Just humour us. Try the kiss thing. Please." August implored.

Emma looked into his eyes and saw his genuine belief in all this nonsense. Hell, she was gonna regret this later. "Fine," She sighed, "I'll try the stupid kiss."

"Thank you," August said, clearly relieved. You walk Henry to the centre of town; I'll meet you there with my bike."

"Woah woah woah. Hold up. Henry is _not_ coming with us."

"Why not? I think it's about time Henry got to visit his dad, don't you?"

Emma, August and Henry walked into the hospital together about twenty minutes later. They walked straight to Neal's room, where August waited outside and Emma took Henry in to see Neal.

Henry walked slowly up to the bed and sat in the chair next to it, his head only just at the same height as the bed. He took his dad's hand and stared at his face.

Emma stood awkwardly in the corner of the room, not quite sure what she should do. Should she sit with him? Should she hug him, hold his hand? Did he want her to? She didn't know. She just watched Henry as he stared and stared and stared at his dad, perhaps willing him to just wake up already. The devastated look on Henry's face broke Emma's heart. The poor kid had just met his biological parents, and then one of them was ripped away as quickly as he had come into Henry's life.

Suddenly, Henry stood up again and left Neal's side. "Please, mum," He begged Emma, gazing up at her with his deep brown eyes that so resembled his fathers. "Please wake him up."

He then left the room, leaving Emma alone with her thoughts and unconscious boyfriend.

She slowly crossed the room. Sitting gently down on the edge of the bed, she picked up Neal's hand and held it close to her heart. She wanted this to work so badly, for Henry's sake. And partly because she hoped that her love for Neal _would_ be strong enough to wake him up, that perhaps magic _could_ exist, just for a few seconds.

She leaned closer to Neal's face and closed her eyes.

"I love you, Neal," She whispered, tears slipping out from underneath her eyes. She then pressed her lips against his, thinking about all the amazing times they'd had together. The day they'd met, their first date at the fairground, their second date at the fairground, their dreams of Tallahassee.

She sat up and stroked his cheek gently. His face did not change.

Emma sighed sadly. She was going to walk out of the room when she felt Neal's hand tighten around hers. She jumped and gaped at their entwined fingers, and then Neal's eyes snapped open.

He sucked in a deep breath and his deep, familiar eyes gazed back up at Emma.

"Emma!" He gasped, squeezing her hand and reaching out for her.

Emma choked on her tears and moved to kiss him again when the monitor to the left of the bed began to make a long, continuous high-pitched sound. Neal's eyes fluttered closed again and his grip loosened on Emma's hand. Emma called his name again and again, shaking his shoulder and yelling at him to wake up before screaming for a doctor.

It was like fifty people came rushing in at once. August, Henry, doctors, nurses, other nameless and faceless figures came running over to see what was going on. They checked monitors, took in Neal's hand around Emma's, Emma saw August pull Henry out of the room kicking and screaming, someone was pulling her away from Neal, but no, she couldn't leave him now, not when he needed her. She screamed and fought against the person who was pulling her away and turned to hit them off before realising that it was Neal's father.

"There's nothing you can do!" He hissed.

"But he woke up, he woke up!" Emma sobbed as she was dragged out of the room, "It's not fair he woke up!" She collapsed into August's arms once she was out of the room and sobbed hysterically.

She gripped his arms and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, feeling her tears soak his shirt. He held her gently and stroked her hair, whispering words of comfort through his own panicked tears.

"He woke up," She whispered before sliding down to the floor to lose herself in her tears.


	22. Deputy

**Guys I am so overwhelmed by the reaction to the last chapter! I can't thank you all enough for your continued support of this story! I'll warn you now – Things are about to get complicated, but by the time I'm done everything will be clear as crystal!...Hopefully... Enjoy! ****X**

* * *

><p>Emma sat on the cold, hard floor of the corridor outside Neal's hospital room with her back against the wall and her knees drawn up to her chest. There was a perfectly good bench about a foot to her right but she had chosen to ignore it. At least sitting uncomfortably on the floor had allowed her to feel <em>something<em>. Opposite her, August stood leaning against the wall fiddling with the zip of his jacket. His eyes were blank and glassy as he stared into space. He'd quickly driven Henry home earlier to get him away from the hospital and to make sure his mother didn't find out he'd been gone. He'd taken about half an hour at Henry's house to calm him down before returning to the hospital to wait anxiously with Emma and Gold, who had vanished about ten minutes ago to find a nurse. Emma's cheeks were red and her eyes were puffy and swollen from tears that she no longer had the energy to cry. She rested her forehead gently against her knees and squeezed her eyes shut. This couldn't be happening. Not to her. She couldn't lose any more people in her life, _especially_ not Neal.

There was a faint clicking sound against the smooth floor, and Emma raised her head slightly to determine the cause of it. It was Gold's cane. She stood quickly as he approached, her eyes screaming the question at him.

"Well? Did they tell you anything new?" She vocalised the question.

Gold flopped down onto the plastic bench and sighed. He was looking uncharacteristically rough – his light brown hair stood up from the many times he'd run his hands through it in the past few hours. His top button was undone and the knot of his tie was lower than usual. He'd only come in to visit Neal when he'd found Emma screaming in Neal's room.

"No," He sighed, "Just the same – that they've re-started his heart but he's too weak for any visitors."

Emma stubbed her toes against the ground in annoyance. _Three hours_ she'd been waiting for new news, and all she'd heard over and over again was that Neal was too weak to have anyone in the room with him. But Emma knew Neal. He wasn't weak; he was one of the strongest people she knew. And what did 'too weak to have any visitors' even mean, anyway? Did it mean he was conscious? Or was he unconscious again and in a worse condition than before? Emma had so many burning questions, as she was sure Gold did too. The poor guy looked to be at breaking point. Emma could see the anger that flared in his eyes every time a doctor refused to give him any news, but to give him his due, he hadn't done anything. He'd held himself together. He didn't seem to be at all like Neal described him, just a loving father who desperately wanted his son to be okay. But sadly, Emma knew better than to believe this. From what many others had told her, and from her experience, she knew that Gold was the kind of person who cared for his own. Family was everything, and everyone else be damned.

Emma began to think of her own little family. Or her sort-of family. Her, Neal and Henry. She was still struggling to let it sink in that she had a _son_. The poor kid just wanted to know his parents, and he gets landed with the couple that trouble seems to follow wherever they go. He was devastated about his father, and Emma _knew_ that he felt guilty about the whole kiss thing. It had been his idea, after all. Emma dwelled on the kiss for a moment. There was something not quite right about the whole thing. Magic didn't exist. It _couldn't_ exist. The only place Emma would ever find magic would be in the Disney films she loved so much. But still...Just as Henry had said, Neal had woken up when Emma kissed him. That can't have been a coincidence, and yet there must be a logical explanation to it...Right? But Emma felt like there was something strange about this whole _town. _Ever since she and Neal had arrived here, nothing but curious and illogical things had happened. Emma's book had appeared after having lost it years ago, her son was telling her tales of magic and curses and a fully grown man actually _believed_ him, and now this - Neal waking up after 'true love's kiss.' Something was off here, and Emma was going to do what she always did and find out what it was. And she knew _exactly_ how do to that.

"Hey, August?" She asked.

August simply looked up and focused his gaze on her in reply.

"Could you... Could you give me a ring if you hear any news? There's something I've got to sort out in town."

August raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her but kept quiet. He nodded and said in a croaky voice, "Sure."

Emma smiled in thanks and walked out of the hospital.

* * *

><p>Graham was sat in his office finishing up the paperwork on a case of theft that he'd just closed. He was quite proud of himself – He'd found the thief, caught her and returned the stolen goods to their rightful owner, all in 24 hours. He was just filing the case away when he heard a tentative knock at his door. He glanced over and was surprised to see Emma Swan stood in the doorway.<p>

"Miss Swan," He said, covering his surprise with a smile, "How can I help you?" He said, sitting down in his desk chair and picking up a pencil to jot a quick note down on his notepad.

"Hey, erm...Well, I was hoping I could ask you something." Emma said, stepping nervously into the office.

Graham spread his hands; "Ask away," He smiled.

"Erm, well...I heard you say...The other week, at the hospital on the night that Neal had his accident...You said that you were looking for a... a deputy?"

Graham leaned back in his chair and placed his pencil between his teeth. "And you think you could be the one for the job?"

"Well... Yeah." Emma replied, sticking her hands into the pockets of her red leather jacket.

Graham laughed slightly, "You have a criminal record."

"For petty theft. I served my time and haven't offended since. It's my _only_ offence, and I was just a kid. C'mon, Sheriff."

"How come you want a job? You planning on sticking around?"

"Well, with Neal in hospital for God knows how long, I don't want to leave town. I want to be close to him just in case, but that means I'm not going to be able to go back to work in Portland, which means I'll have no money to pay his medical bills with. _Please_ Graham, I need this job!"

"Can't Mr Gold pay his son's bills? He's got enough money."

"That's not the point. I can't just palm everything off on him, I _want_ to help. Plus I need to stick around for Henry, but for that I need money to pay for my room at Granny's."

Graham sighed. He _did_ have a soft spot for Henry. All the kid had ever talked about was the day that he'd meet his birth parents. He didn't want to be the one to take Henry's mother away.

"Say I did give you the job." Graham said, reaching into the drawer on the left hand side of his desk and pulling out a small badge. "Would you be willing to do night shifts?"

"Yep, anything." Emma replied instantly.

"Be on call 24/7 in case I need you?"

"Sure thing."

"Pursue the course of justice even if it affects those we love?"

Emma faltered at this question, "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Storybrooke isn't the biggest town on the map Emma. Quite often we find the people we care about get tangled up in the law."

"I'll be fine." Emma said.

"Very well," Graham slid the badge over the desk towards Emma.

"You...You're giving me the job?" Emma stared in stunned disbelief at the badge.

"You don't want it?" Graham asked, moving to take the badge back.

"No! I mean, yes!" Emma yelped, snatching the badge up.

"You start tomorrow." Graham told her, "I suggest you go get some rest."

Emma smiled, staring at the badge. She went to exit the office, but before she did, she turned and said, "Thank you, Graham."

He smiled at her as she left. As soon as he'd heard the door to the corridor click shut and Emma's footsteps faded away, Graham grabbed his phone and dialled Regina's number.

"Hello?"

"You were right. She was just here about the deputy job."

"And did you give it to her?"

"Yes, just like you asked."

"Excellent."

"Regina, how...How did you _know_?"

Regina laughed slightly down the phone. "You forget, _Huntsman, _that I pursued Snow White for many years. If Emma is anything like her mother, then she will be nosy and arrogant and will suspect that something is up. She has witnessed too many strange events since being here to not be suspicious. My little trick with her boyfriend was the last straw – after that kiss, she will be looking for any way to find out what is going on in town."

"But where did you get magic in this world? And why let _me_ remember after all these years?" Graham asked, his eyes wide.

"Because I need my little pet," Regina spat, avoiding Graham's first question, "To help me make sure that Emma Swan does not survive to break my curse."

* * *

><p><strong>Oooooh what's gonna happen next? All will become less confusing soon, I promise. I'm trying hard to not make this confusing, but the storyline is going to be getting quite complicated and I'm even planning to tie in a little trick used once in the TV show Merlin (Any fans out there?;)) I'm excited:3 If you guys do have any questions, feel free to leave them in the reviews section or to PM me!:) I will try my best to answer them, but I am not going to be giving out spoilers so I may not be able to. Hopefully you guys will stick with me and find out what Regina has planned!:))<strong>


	23. Tricks With A Hat

**Updates updates updates! Aren't I doing awesomely? This must be like three updates in a week! :') #Proud Anyways, here. Have some more details on Regina's evil plan. Please don't forget to review!:) X**

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><p>"What do you mean" Graham gasped down the phone.<p>

"I mean," Regina replied, sitting down on the edge of her bed and crossing her legs, "That Emma will regret the day she ever came to Storybrooke."

"So...You... You're going to kill her?" Graham asked, not really sure he wanted the answer.

"Oh goodness no!" Regina laughed, "No. What I shall do to Miss Swan will be much worse than her death."

"And what's that?" Graham gulped.

"The death of the person she loves most." Regina told him darkly.

There was silence on the other end of the line. "You mean...You're going to kill _Henry?_"

"No you idiot! Neal!"

"Ohhh that makes more sense...I mean... Why?"

Regina rolled her eyes and placed her head in her hands. "To think I once thought you intelligent."

"Well waking up from a 29-year curse kinda makes you a bit drowsy." Graham replied defensively.

"Shut up, _pet_!" Regina snapped. "Once Neal Cassidy dies, Emma's hope in a happy ending will be destroyed. She will have no want to remain in Storybrooke and she will leave for good."

"But what about Henry? Won't she want to stay for him?"

"You forget your place, Huntsman. Henry is a personal matter which you will leave well alone. I have a plan for him."

Graham wasn't sure he liked the sound of that.

"You just make sure you keep Miss Swan busy – Throw her off the scent. I don't want her interfering with my plan." She hung up and chucked her phone onto her bedside cabinet.

Of course, she hadn't told Graham her whole plan. She'd have been stupid to. He couldn't be fully trusted, even if Regina did possess his heart. Magic was unpredictable in Storybrooke, so she couldn't be entirely sure on how strong her hold on him was. It had been a risk to wake him up, but it was a risk she was willing to take to ensure the continuity of her curse. And there were two other things she needed...The first had been the potion that had caused Neal's heart to stop when he woke. It had been easy enough to make with the few ingredients Regina had dug out of her vault. She had cursed the doctors who had restarted his heart; it meant she'd have to make a new batch, and she only had a few ingredients left. She would have to be careful. This time, she'd make the potion stronger. No chance of survival. The other thing was what would sort out the problem of Emma's growing relationship with Henry. She had thought that it would have been impossible to come by, but with the help of Jefferson the portal jumper, she'd managed to get her hands on it. The thing that would finish Emma Swan for good...All she needed now was to give Emma other things to focus on to keep her out of Regina's way...

"Well, there's no time like the present." Regina muttered to herself, trying to be quiet so that she didn't wake Henry, who was asleep next door.

She grabbed her phone back off of her cabinet and punched in the number of Granny's Bed and Breakfast. It was getting late, but hopefully Granny would still be up. The phone rang and rang and rang, and on what must have been the last ring, a breathless Granny picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is Regina Mills, the mayor."

"Oh, Miss Mills!" Granny sounded surprised, "How may I help you?"

"I understand you have a Miss Emma Swan staying at your residence?"

"Yes, Miss Swan is in room 6."

"I'm afraid you are going to have to evict her. In the town charter, it states that you have a no-felons policy. Miss Swan has a criminal record, as you may or may not be aware."

"Oh, I'm afraid I was not aware of that Madame Mayor!" Granny sounded panicked.

"Don't worry; it's not your fault. But I'm afraid Miss Swan shall have to move out tomorrow morning."

"It's such a shame; she's been having such a bad time of it recently, what with her boyfriend's accident and all."

"Yes, it is a shame," Regina said, wrinkling her nose as she did so, "But I'm afraid the law is the law."

"Of course. I shall see to it that she hands in her room key tomorrow morning."

"Thank you." Regina hung up and smiled to herself. She then got ready for bed and settled down, confident that she could now sit back and watch her plan fall neatly into place.

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine, 1 week ago.<em>

_"__Well, can you get me what I want or not?" Regina demanded._

_"__Maybe," Jefferson sighed, "But I'll need to take my hat close to a source of magic."_

_"__Perfect. I know just the place." Regina told him._

_"__Where?" Jefferson's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "This land has no magic."_

_"__This land doesn't, but Mr Gold does." Regina replied, "If we go to one of the alleys near his shop do you think you could harness the power?"_

_"__Well, I guess it's worth a shot," Jefferson grumbled._

_Regina grabbed her car keys off of her desk and strode out of her office. Looking back, she saw that Jefferson was not following her._

_"__Well come on then!" She beckoned to him before continuing out to her car._

_"__You wanna go now? Okay. Now's fine." Jefferson murmured to himself as he followed her with his hat._

* * *

><p>The next day, Emma drove the bug into the Deputy's parking space outside the Sheriff's Station. She jumped out, quickly locked the car and rushed into the station.<p>

"Hm, late on your first day. I might have to reconsider this arrangement, Miss Swan." Graham said, sitting at his desk writing yet _more_ paper work.

"Sorry," Emma gasped, crouching over briefly to catch her breath. "I haven't been sleeping well recently, with...Y'know..."

Graham looked up at her and nodded. "I know," he told her sympathetically.

There was an awkward silence. "So...What do you want me to do first?" Emma asked.

"I need you," Graham said, signing the document and filing it away, "To work on something very important."

"Wow, Sheriff, it's only my first day." Emma laughed nervously.

"Oh no, I think you'll cope quite well with this particular task."

Emma raised her eyebrows expectantly.

Graham pulled a large, fat file out of a filing cabinet on the other side of the room, "Paper work." Graham grinned at her, shoving the file into Emma's hands.

"Seriously?" She asked, gazing at Graham.

"Mmhmm. This file is a mess. I need you to sort through it, put all the papers into piles of their corresponding cases – in date order – and then stack them back into the file, again in chronological order."

Emma just gaped at the file. "But...This thing is huge!" She spluttered.

"I know," Graham gave her a knowing look, "I've been putting off the job for ages myself." He grabbed his jacket off of the peg in by the door.

"Hey wait, where are you going?" Emma asked; turning and following him out the door to the office and into the corridor.

"I've got patrol duty. Y'know...The fun stuff..." He winked at her and exited the station, leaving Emma stood dumbfounded in the middle of the corridor with a fat, bashed up, fading yellow file clutched in her hands.

* * *

><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine, 1 week ago.<em>

_Regina and Jefferson stood together in a narrow alley; Jefferson's hat the only thing between them in the narrow space. It was getting late and the chill in the air was enough to persuade Regina to pull her black leather gloves over her slender hands._

_"__You ready?" Jefferson asked, crouching down next to the hat._

_Regina just rolled her eyes in response and stood back to allow Jefferson room to work his magic. He grabbed the hat with both hands and flicked it so it began to spin. It swivelled around a few times before losing momentum and grinding to a halt._

_Regina's eyes widened. "Why isn't it working?" She demanded._

_Jefferson sent the hat spinning again, and this time a thin wisp of purple smoke appeared around it before the hat lost momentum once again and stopped. The purple smoke dissipated._

_"__The magic isn't strong enough. It needs something more. Something that _works_."_

_Regina absent-mindedly began to fiddle with the ring that hung on a chain around her neck. A face appeared in the centre of the ring – a face that Regina hoped she'd never forget. Jefferson caught this movement out of the corner of his eye._

_"__Hey, what's that?"_

_Regina gripped the necklace defensively. "The only thing I have left of someone long gone." She told him, fighting the tears that threatened her._

_"__Well, give it here. If it's magical then it might be enough."_

_Regina hesitated._

_"__C'mon Regina. Live in the past with that thing around your neck, or live for the future and give it to me." He held out his hand._

_Reluctantly, Regina removed the necklace from her neck and handed it to Jefferson._

_"__This might only buy us a little time. Before I open the portal, I need you to tell me what it is I'm looking for; and the time and place in which this object occurs."_

_Regina considered it for a moment. "This object is a small bottle-green vial located in my vault in the Enchanted Forest. You will find it there the day before I enacted the curse."_

_Jefferson nodded his understanding. He dropped the necklace into the hat and set it spinning again. This time, the purple smoke emerged and engulfed the hat temporarily before dissipating slightly and swirling around in the centre of the hat. A strong wind picked up and blew Regina's hair right back out of her face._

_"__Excellent! It appears to be working." Jefferson told her. "Now focus really hard on the vial, the location and the time. I will reach in and grab it."_

_Regina nodded and closed her eyes. She squeezed them tight shut and focused. She could see the vial, she could see the dusty shelf it stood on and she could see the many other vials and jars that surrounded it. She could see herself walking through her vault on the day before she enacted her curse._

_Jefferson looked up at her before shoving his hand through the portal. He was almost certain that nothing good could come of this, but Regina had promised him his daughter, his Grace. He couldn't turn this opportunity down. He felt a cool, thin glass object press against his hand and he grabbed it, pulling his hand back out of the portal just as the magic failed and the portal collapsed. The wind died down and the smoke vanished, leaving only the faint scent of Mildew and dust._

_Jefferson fell backwards away from his hat and looked at the tiny green vial in his hand._

_"__This it?" He asked, holding the vial up for Regina to see._

_"__Yes," She gasped, reaching out and taking the vial from him. "You did it..."_

_"__No need to sound so surprised." Jefferson told her, standing up and picking up his hat. "And now my daughter? Grace? You'll let her remember me?"_

_Regina was still staring in wonder at the vial, running it through her hands. She looked up at Jefferson's words. "Our deal is not done until this serves its purpose." She snapped, shaking the vial at him._

_"__And what is that purpose?" Jefferson asked dryly._

_"__This potion," Regina said, holding it up to her eye level, "Will cause any magic acting on a person or object to be reversed."_

_"__And, dare I ask, who or what has incurred such a fate?"_

_Regina laughed evilly, "Why, the Saviour of course. The only one who could ruin everything for me... If she takes this potion, it will reverse the magic that makes her special. No more Saviour." She smirked as she placed the vial gently into her coat pocket._

_"__And what will you do with her after that?" Jefferson asked, raising and eyebrow and putting his hands into the pockets of his woollen coat._

_"__Why, I'll send her for a trip across the town line." Regina replied, "No more magic means that Emma will be unable to leave without losing her memories...Including her memories of my son."_

_"__She'll have no reason to return. No reason to stay and break the curse." Jefferson stated._

_"__Exactly." Regina smirked at him before turning to walk away._

_"__Regina," Jefferson called after her._

_She turned to face him again, now halfway back down the alley._

_"__How do you intend to get Emma to cross the town line?"_

_He could feel the evil radiating off of Regina as she spoke her next few words. "I'm just about to deal with that now. I am going to kill Neal Cassidy."_

* * *

><p>Regina slipped into the hospital through a side door. She had brewed a new potion, a stronger one that would definitely end Neal Cassidy for good. The first attempt had failed, yes. But that was only a minor delay. This would look like a natural death - Neal was in a weak state anyway. No one would ever suspect anything was wrong, as the potion would leave no trace.<p>

Regina heard footsteps down the hall and backed into a nearby storage cupboard.

"Regina?" A female voice called out.

Regina breathed a sigh of relief. "Nurse Iona." She smiled and stepped out of the cupboard.

Neal's nurse turned to face Regina. "I am so sorry about your last stab at this. All those doctors rushed in before I could do anything to stop them and they re-started his heart."

"Yes well you had better not make the same mistake twice." Regina hissed, shoving the potion into the nurses hand.

Iona nodded and walked off, placing the vial in her pocket. Regina smirked and exited the hospital, feeling happier than she had in a long time. Things were finally coming together.

She drove home and checked on Henry, who was doing homework in his room. Regina watched him for a few moment, a twinge of guilt playing in the pit of her stomach at the fact that she had just sealed his father's fate. She thought about all the hurt he'd feel when his dad died, when his mother left and forgot about him, when she didn't come back. The guilt grew and gnawed away at Regina's insides. She tried to fight it off, she focused on all the work she'd done to get this far. She couldn't fail now. Anyway, she'd killed hundreds of people before. What made Henry's parents any different? '_The fact that they're Henry's parents.'_ A voice whispered inside of her.

Her son already hated her. Why give him more reason to? If her plan worked well, he'd never find out she had anything to do with it. But...She knew he'd find some way to blame her for _something_. All Regina had ever wanted was her happy ending, and Emma Swan was standing in the way of it...Or was she? What if Henry, and not the curse, was Regina's happy ending? And what if killing Neal and getting rid of Emma was going to destroy Regina's chance at happiness? She couldn't think it through quick enough. Nurse Iona was probably injecting the potion into Neal's bloodstream at that very moment. Surely there had to be another way to get what she wanted?

Regina backed quickly out of Henry's doorway and ran to grab her phone.

She couldn't go through with this.


	24. Magic Tricks

**Hey guys, so I have split this chapter in two because I think it works best this way, so please bear with me and I will try and get the next chapter up at the weekend. Also, my last update was our longest chapter yet! Whoop whoop celebrate! *Does happy dance* This one is a bit shorter but hey. ****Enjoy! X**

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><p>Regina raced into the hallway, grabbed her handbag off of the cabinet and rifled through it, desperately searching for her phone. She found it buried right at the bottom and held it in her hand, ready to call Iona and tell her to not give Neal the potion. But then she froze. She reconsidered her options again. If she could make Emma forget about Henry, then surely she could make Henry forget about Emma? And Neal? Sure, he'd hurt for a while, but then as soon as Emma was gone Regina could take his memories and give him a new life. A life where <em>she<em> was his real mother, a life where they were _happy._ It would just be a case of keeping the rest of the town quiet...

Regina pulled the vial that Jefferson had retrieved for her from her coat pocket and inspected the contents. She did some quick calculations in her head and concluded that she did in fact have enough of the potion to wipe Emma's memories _and_ create a spell that would remove Emma and Neal from the memories of the entire town. If this potion could reverse the effects of magic, then maybe Regina could use the counter-curse to the Dark Curse... The counter-curse was Regina's back-up plan – a potion that could reverse the effects of the Dark Curse in case she ever needed to wake anyone up from the curse. It had been what she had used to wake Graham up. If she could find a way to spread the potion throughout the whole town, and added a drop of the magic reversing potion to the mix, then it would _take_ memories rather than give them back. It would reset the whole town, like the curse had just been cast. It would give her a fresh start, and no one – not even Mr Gold – would remember _anything_ that had happened in the last 29 years.

Regina smirked and placed her phone delicately back into her bag.

No need to call Nurse Iona.

* * *

><p>Mr Gold was sat next to Neal's bed. The doctors had <em>finally<em> let him come and sit with Neal, after much nagging and threatening. He looked down at his son's face which was several shades paler than it should have been. In the land that they came from, people were normally at least a little tanned.

Gold sighed and squeezed Neal's hand. He'd been so close to waking up. It was actually cruel how he'd been snatched away again so quickly.

Suddenly, the door opened and a nurse walked in, fiddling with something in her pocket.

"Oh, sorry," She said when she saw Mr Gold, "I didn't mean to interrupt." She quickly removed her hand from her apron pocket.

"Not a problem," Mr Gold said quietly. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, no. He just needs his meds topped up." The nurse said quickly..._Too_ quickly. She crossed the room to stand next to Neal's bed.

"Which medicine?" Gold frowned. He knew _exactly_ which medicine Neal was on, and he knew _exactly_ when which drugs needed topping up. This was not a time when any of Neal's medicine needed to be topped up.

"Just some Morphine to help with the pain." The nurse smiled nervously and began to fiddle with some of the tubes by Neal's bed.

Gold crossed the room to stand beside her and grabbed her arm.

"My son is not on Morphine." He growled.

The nurse glanced up at him, her face paling and her eyes darting with nerves. "I'm sorry Sir, but I'm just doing my job. I've been instructed to give him Morphine and so that is what I must do. Now I think it would be best if you left."

Gold glared at her before shoving his hand into the nurse's apron pocket and pulled out a small green vial containing a dark liquid.

"Just Morphine?" He asked darkly, raising an eyebrow.

The nurse was visibly sweating now. "I...I, uh..."

Gold opened the vial and sniffed the contents, and his eyes widened in surprise when he recognised a recipe of his own making. He felt anger rising within him like a tidal wave – there was only _one_ other person in all the worlds who knew how to make this potion, and he was going to pay her a little visit...

"Get out!" He spat at the nurse, who promptly burst into tears of relief and ran willingly from the room.

* * *

><p>Gold's car screeched to halt outside Regina's house. It was getting dark now, and the younger members of the community were probably tucked up in bed. Gold felt bad briefly for his grandson, who would probably be among those already in bed and asleep. But he decided that Henry not sleeping for one night was a small price to pay for the way he was about to make Regina pay for attempting to kill his son. He climbed out of his car, marched up to Regina's front door and banged on it loudly with his fist.<p>

"REGINA!" He banged on the door again, "REGINA, I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!" He continued to beat up Regina's front door until she eventually opened it.

"WHAT THE _HELL_ DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" She yelled at him, trying to keep her voice down but be angry at the same time. "Henry is sleeping and you probably woke him up now!"

But Gold wasn't listening. He barged past her into the hall and turned to face her as she shut the front door behind him.

"Please, do come in," She muttered as she closed the door.

"Mayor Mills, I'm curious. How do you suppose a potion of magical properties might have made its way down to the hospital? More specifically, to my son's room?"

Regina just gaped at him, "I...I..."

Gold shoved her backwards so she went flying into the front door with a crash. He walked right up to her so his face was mere inches away from hers and shook the vial in front of her.

"One of my son's nurses was going to inject this into him. She said it was Morphine. If you're gonna hire someone to do your dirty work Regina, I suggest you do your research beforehand. My son is not on Morphine and never has been." He hissed.

Regina simply glared back at him, waiting for him to make the link.

"It was you!" Gold's eyes widened and he took a step back. "It was _your_ fault his heart stopped the first time!" He pointed a shaking finger at her, "YOU WOULD'VE KILLED MY SON!"

"YES!" Regina screamed at him. "I WOULD HAVE KILLED HIM AND I WOULD HAVE DAMN WELL ENJOYED WATCHING YOU SUFFER!"

* * *

><p>Henry awoke at about 9:30 pm to the sound of raised voices coming from downstairs. He couldn't have been asleep for long, he'd only gone to bed about an hour ago. He could hear his mother's voice and... Was that Mr Gold? What in hell was going on? He slipped out of his bed and crept closer to the door in order to listen to the conversation.<p>

He heard some indiscernible noises before eventually, "YOU WOULD'VE KILLED MY SON!" He heard Mr Gold yell.

Henry gasped and backed quickly away from the door. Whatever was going on, it had something to do with his father. He stumbled back over to his bed and grabbed the phone August had given him from under his pillow. He had saved Emma's number in the phone in case of emergencies, and this _definitely_ qualified as an emergency. He dialled the number and waited impatiently.

"Come on, come on, come on!" He nervously bobbed up and down on his heels.

"Hello?" Emma's voice finally answered.

"Emma!" Henry cried, "You have to come quickly! My mum and Mr Gold are arguing downstairs and I think it has something to do with my dad! Is he okay?"

There was a brief silence at the end of the line, "Henry he was fine last time I checked!"

"Please mum! You _have_ to come, I don't know what could happen if no one stops them!"

There was another temporary silence before Emma replied, "Okay. I'll be there soon."

* * *

><p>"YES! I WOULD HAVE KILLED HIM AND I WOULD HAVE DAMN WELL ENJOYED WATCHING YOU SUFFER! I had the perfect plan to get rid of the Saviour so that my curse – <em>your<em> curse – wouldn't be broken! But you – It seems like you _want_ the curse broken, Gold! _Why_ after all these years and all of our hard work would you want to have the curse broken?"

"Because I want my son!" Gold seethed, "And there's no way in hell that I am going to let some pathetic waste of time such as you get in my way!"

Regina laughed softly, "Oh, _I'm_ the waste of time? Please. _You're_ the one who trained me to use magic, _you're_ the one who wrote the Dark Curse, and _you're _the one who helped me to enact it! All so that you could find your son. And now he is about to die and all of your hard work will have been for _nothing_! He will die _hating_ you for whatever it was that happened between the two of you, and you will _never_ get the chance to make things right. So tell me Rumple, who's really the waste of time here?" She hissed. She stepped away from the front door and walked forwards, causing Gold to walk backwards.

"I took the potion," He said, "The nurse can't give him anything, she left. He's going to be fine"

Regina laughed again, "Oh Rumple. You were so smart once. But it's like you said. If you're going to get someone else to do your dirty work, you need to do your research beforehand. I _knew_ you'd come running to me as soon as you realised it was me who had tried to kill Neal. I _knew_ you'd leave him alone and unguarded. Now did you _really_ think I'd only give the nurse _one_ dose of the potion?"

Gold stared at her, his mouth slightly agape.

"I'm not _that_ stupid Rumple. _Especially_ not after her first screw-up. I'd give your son about half an hour to live." She said, checking her watch for effect. "Best get back there quickly and say your goodbyes." She smirked.

The look on Gold's face could've killed a man. "You know what Regina?" He asked dangerously, "I've had just about as much of you as I can handle." He raised a hand, and scarlet magic engulfed it. He swept his hand to the side and sent Regina flying across the hallway, crashing into a mirror and smashing it to pieces.

Regina stood up, panting. "Didn't you know it's unlucky to break a mirror, Rumple?" She smiled crazily.

It was the last cocky remark she got in, as the next minute Gold raised a hand and Regina was floating a few feet off of the floor, her throat tightening as Gold choked her with his magic.

"Gold, what the hell are you doing?" A shocked voice called from the doorway.

In his surprise, Gold released Regina, letting her crash to the floor in a heap, writhing around as she struggled to regain her breath.

There, in the doorway, stood a stunned Emma Swan.

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><p><strong>In this chapter, you may wonder why Gold doesn't use his 'pleases,' but that will be explained in a flashback that is coming up. I hope you liked this chapter, if you did then I would love it if you could leave a review! Perhaps your favourite line or something?:)<strong>


	25. Revealations

**Hey guys! So here is what happened next... I hope it doesn't disappoint!:) Just so you know, I am planning on continuing this story according to the seasons of the show, so eventually this story will end and I will write my version of season 2 in another fic, but continuing from this one. Like a book series. So in the author's note on the last chapter of this fic (Which may or may not be approaching quickly) I will announce the title of my season 2 fic:)**

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><p>Emma stared wide-eyed at Neal's father and the heap on the floor that was Regina. Gold slowly lowered his outstretched hand and began to walk purposefully towards Emma. Emma stood her ground, thinking he was about to come over and yell at her or something, but then he just pushed past her and headed for his car.<p>

"Hey!" Emma yelled and turned and stormed out after him. "How the _hell_ did you do that?"

"Do what?" Gold asked dully as he unlocked his car and opened the driver's side door. Emma could hear Regina following her slowly out, still catching her breath.

"Um, your whole levitating act, maybe?" Emma waved her hands around in an imitation of Gold.

Gold sat down in his car and looked up at Emma. "You came here searching for answers, Miss Swan. Well, you just found them." He then slammed the door shut and drove off.

Emma stared after him, her mouth hanging open. "No way," She whispered as she understood the meaning behind Gold's words, "Henry was right!"

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><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 3 weeks ago.<em>

_Gold wandered slowly into Regina's office. He hated having to ask the Evil Queen of all people for help, but in this case he was willing to make an exception. He walked into the middle of the room and cleared his throat._

_"__Mr Gold." Regina said, not taking her head out of the document she was reading. "What can I do for you?"_

_Gold pursed his lips. He considered leaving and finding another way himself. But he knew that Regina was the only one who would ever be able to find what he was looking for..._Who _he was looking for._

_"__I need...Your...Help." Gold got the words out through gritted teeth._

_Regina looked up, her curiosity aroused. "_You_need _my _help?" She asked smugly. "Well what is it you want?"_

_"__Not what, Dearie. _Who_."_

_"__Ah," Regina walked around to the other side of her desk and perched on the edge. "So this is about _her_."_

_Gold just glared at her. "Will you help me or not?"_

_"__Well it is as I told you before Rumple. She's dead. Gone. Not coming back."_

_"__You're lying," Gold spat. "She's alive, I know she is! What did you do to her?"_

_"__Well Gold, I can help you. But what's in it for me?"_

_"__What do you want, Dearie?" Gold asked as he composed himself and calmed down._

_Regina thought about it for a second. "I shall help you find the one you desire, if you give up your pretty pleases." She smirked. "Do we have a deal?"_

_Gold considered his options. His pleases had been helpful during the curse, but if all went to plan the curse wouldn't last much longer anyway. Besides, she was worth it. "Fine." He said._

_Regina smiled evilly. "Well then, let's find this beast his beauty."_

* * *

><p>Mary Margaret was wandering slowly down the street that led to her apartment. She reached a junction, looked both ways and began to cross the road. She was halfway across when a car sped suddenly around the corner, heading straight for her. Mary Margaret froze and screamed, certain she was going to get hit. But then someone else was there, and they pushed her out of the road and fell on top of her on the pavement on the other side of the road. The car just continued to speed off into the distance. Mary Margaret stared up at her rescuer.<p>

"Oh, David! I- I'm sorry I did check to see if anything was coming but then that guy was just going so fast and I didn't know what to do and-" She flushed deeply red.

"Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. The driver should be the one apologising." David said, awkwardly getting up and holding out a hand to help her up.

Mary Margaret smiled at him and took his hand. She held onto it for too long once she was up and dropped it quickly when she realised what she was doing. The pair stood there awkwardly, neither sure of what to do or say.

"Um, well... Thank you for... For saving my life." Mary Margaret told him.

"Any time." David smiled.

"Oh, what a Prince Charming," Mary Margaret said, trying to break through the awkwardness of the situation. David just laughed.

"Yeah, well, I hate to see a damsel in distress." David joked.

Mary Margaret laughed, "Well I hate to be one!"

Despite their jokes, the awkward atmosphere soon returned.

"So...I guess I'll see you at school." David said, "If you don't get run over, that is." He laughed weakly. He was about to continue walking when Mary Margaret took his arm.

"David, wait." She'd been thinking a lot about David recently, more often than she should for their strictly professional relationship. And then she'd realised it, about a week ago. She had _feelings_ for him. She'd been on a series of terrible dates in her time, each time thinking that this time, this guy would be the one. But they never were. However, her feelings for David were... _Different_. She'd never felt this way about anyone before. And there was something about him that was just so _familiar_. He felt like home. But she hadn't wanted to act on these feelings, because David had only recently broken up with his wife, Kathryn, after she cheated on him with a gym teacher. It had been a huge scandal, the whole town knew about it. She didn't want to rush him into anything when he was still hurting. "I... I was just wondering if maybe we could... I mean, only if you want to, maybe we could..."

"Go get coffee some time?" He suggested, smiling.

Mary Margaret smiled nervously at him. "Yeah." She replied.

"Well, how about tomorrow? I'm free from 12."

"Okay, tomorrow. 12:30 at Granny's?"

"Sure, it's a date." David smiled and wished her goodnight. Mary Margaret stared at him as he walked away, grinning like a schoolgirl. Once she had rounded the corner, she did a mini fist-pump before hurrying into her apartment.

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><p>Gold thought he saw a figure in the middle of the junction, but he blinked and it was gone. He shook his head and shot through the junction, sure he had been seeing things. He was going way over the limit, but he had to get to the hospital before the nurse injected Neal with the potion. He screeched to a halt in the hospital car park, jumped out of his car and raced into Neal's room to find...<p>

He was fine. The monitor was registering a normal heart rate. He looked exactly the same as Rumple had left him. Nothing looked different. Gold walked over and placed a hand on his sons head. He looked okay, excluding the whole in-a-coma thing. Gold ran his hand slowly through Neal's hair before he left the room in search of the nurse he'd encountered earlier. It didn't take him long to identify her as the one who panicked and ran when she saw him. He swiftly followed her and cornered her by the X-Ray room. He slammed his hand down on the wall next to her face and leaned in close to her.

"Where is it?" He growled. "Did she even give it to you in the first place?"

The nurse firstly appeared terrified, but then she just looked blankly at Gold. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you think, Dearie? The potion that you tried to give to my son."

"The one you took?" The nurse asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's wherever you left it. I don't have it."

"I suspect I know the answer to this, but did the Mayor give you more than one dose of that potion?" Gold asked.

"What? No! She gave me one which I gave to your son yesterday, but when the doctors re-started his heart she gave me another which is the one that you took. There is no more, those were the only doses."

"Good." Gold said, stepping backwards from the nurse, "That means you are no longer useful to anyone." Gold violently shoved his hand forwards and ripped the nurse's heart right out of her chest. He held it up in front of her shocked face and slowly began to squeeze, watching with pleasure as the nurse gasped for breath and clutched at her chest. He thought about how his son – his _only_ son who he'd spent lifetimes searching for – had nearly died because of this woman. And with one final pulse of anger, Gold squeezed the life out of the nurse, her heart crumbling to dust in his hand. The nurse's eyes rolled up into her head and she slid down the wall. She crumpled in a pile on the floor, motionless. Gold sprinkled the dust of her heart over her limp body and walked off like nothing had happened.

* * *

><p>Emma turned around after Gold left and saw Regina stood a few paces behind her.<p>

"Regina... Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Regina said, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

"Regina..."

"What?" She snapped. "What do you want? What are you even still doing here?"

"It's true, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Everything that Henry has told me about. Your curse. Me being the Saviour. My parents being Snow White and Prince Charming, it's all true!"

Regina stared at her, her mouth hanging open. Slowly, she closed her mouth and nodded.

"Oh my God," Emma covered her face in her hands. "Oh my God, what are we going to do?"

"We? There _is_ no we, Miss Swan! _You_ are the Saviour, _I_ am the Evil Queen. We are on opposite sides here, so there is no we! You do your thing, and I'm gonna do mine!" Regina turned and stormed back into her house. The door slammed shut behind her.

Emma stared after her, her mouth hanging open once again. She didn't have a clue what to do – The biggest bombshell ever had just been dropped, and then the two people who had dropped it had just left her to deal with it. Emma was still struggling to get past Regina admitting that she was the Evil Queen. She looked back and forth between the house and the road that led to town and considered which way to go. Then she shook her head. This was ridiculous, there was only one way she _could_ go, and that was right up to Regina's front door to get her to explain what the hell was going on.

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><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 3 weeks ago.<em>

_Gold followed Regina through the hospital and to a door in the corner that everyone seemed to overlook. Regina looked around the hall to check that they were alone before quickly keying in a code and opening the door. Gold followed her down some steps and into some sort of hidden underground hospital. Regina walked over to a desk and snatched a ring of keys off of the woman sat behind it._

_"__Where the hell are we?" He growled, the anger within him rising as he looked around the place where Regina had hidden his true love for all these years._

_"__Just a place where I keep the mentally insecure. When they are here, they are protected from prying eyes."_

_"__So you mean all the people you don't want found are down here." Gold replied._

_Regina just ignored him and continued to walk down a long narrow corridor. Gold had no choice but to follow her. They walked through a labyrinth of gleaming white corridors for what seemed like an age before Regina stopped outside of a lone door, fumbling with her keys. Gold looked at the tag on the outside of the door, which read:_

Miss L. French

_Gold tapped the tag, "What does the 'L' stand for?"_

_"__Well maybe you'll find out." Regina replied, unlocking the door but not opening it. "If she wants to know you, that is. Now before you go in here, I want you to be sure that this is what you want. I mean, I can't exactly take her back once she's out. Everyone would wonder where she went. She would know what kind of a life she_ could_ have, rather than being stuck in this cell 24 hours a day._"

_Gold glared at her and shoved her out of the way. He pushed the door open and stepped inside._

_A young woman with long, knotted brown hair was sat huddled in the corner of the cell on an old metal bed, her back pressed up against the bare, cold concrete wall and her head buried in her arms. She wore a tattered blue hospital gown which did not give her enough warmth to keep her from shivering in the cold cell. When Gold walked in, she slowly looked up, a look of confusion plastered on her face._

_When Gold saw her face, he stopped and stared, his mouth hanging open. She was even more beautiful than the last time he'd seen her, even in this state. She had lost weight and looked malnourished and half frozen, and that made him angrier with Regina than he'd ever been before. The Evil Queen had snatched the one woman he had ever truly loved away from him and she hadn't even bothered to treat her well. But for now, he could put his anger behind him as he looked into the eyes of the woman he'd thought he'd lost forever._

_"__B...Belle?" He asked as he stepped forwards with wide eyes._

_The woman lifted her head higher and scrambled backwards. She pressed herself further against the wall and stared at him with panicked bright blue eyes._

_"__It's okay, I won't hurt you." Gold promised and held his hands out towards her._

_"__W...Who are you? Who is Belle?" The girl asked. Her voice had a beautiful accent, one that you wouldn't soon forget._

_"__My name is Mr Gold," He whispered, stepping right up to the woman and sitting on the edge of her bed. He placed his hand gently over hers. "I'm going to take you home."_

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><p>Emma strode back up to Regina's front door and opened it without knocking.<p>

"REGINA!" She yelled and stepped into the hall. "Regina get your ass down here and explain to me what the _hell_ is going on!"

After a moment, Emma heard light footsteps padding down the stairs above her and walked forwards to stand at the foot of the staircase.

"Take your bloody time, you've ju-" Emma stopped talking when she realised that it wasn't Regina walking down the stairs, but Henry. "Oh, Henry. I...erm, I thought you were Regina."

"Yeah, I gathered. Now come on. We've got work to do."

"Work? What work?"

"You've gotta break the curse, duh!"

"Wait, how did you know that I believe now?" Emma asked, hurrying out of the door behind Henry.

"You just look like you do. When you believe, you get this kinda look in your eye. You never had it before, but... If I'm not mistaken, yours is the look of a believer."

"Right..." Emma frowned. She unlocked her car and flopped down into the driver's seat.

"Yep." Henry said, climbing into the passenger's seat. "Now come on. We've gotta go see my dad."

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><p><strong>So this chapter was getting a bit too long, there is so much more I was going to put in it but then the chapter would be way too long. So I am adding an extra chapter to the story than I had planned instead so that I can get all the content in. I hope you enjoyed this update!:)<strong>


	26. La Vie Est Belle

**Hey y'all, sorry for the delay. I hope this chapter is worth the wait! Don't you just hate writer's block? So I know I piled a lot of content on you in the last chapter, and as we near our finale (*cries*) the chapters will probably remain pretty content-heavy. I am also aware of the questions you have about the last chapter, and it is just because I had to re-arrange the chapter structure that some of you are confused. Hopefully by the end of this chapter things will be clearer. :) Enjoy! X**

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><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 3 weeks ago.<em>

_Gold quietly escorted a very confused Belle out of the cell. She froze when she saw Regina and backed quickly back into her cell, tripping over as she did so and falling backwards. Regina rolled her eyes and left Gold alone with Belle.  
>"Hey, it's okay," He whispered, crouching down and helping Belle to her feet.<br>"I... I don't know what's happening, where am I?" Belle asked, tears forming in her eyes as she spoke. She looked terrified and her voice was shaking. It hurt Gold to see the woman he loved scared like this.  
>"Shh, it's alright. It doesn't matter where you are, all that matters is that you're leaving now." Gold managed to persuade her out of the cell and into the corridor. He guided her to the stairs that led back up to the hospital. When they reached the door of the hospital, Gold realised how cold it was outside, and Belle was shivering already in her hospital gown.<br>"Here," He said and took his jacket off and wrapped it gently around her shoulders. "I'll find you some clothes when we get home."  
>"Where is home? Who are you?" Belle asked in that perfect accent, still slightly reluctant to go with this man. Gold sighed and took her hand.<br>"Look, I know you're confused, but I promise soon enough things will make sense. You will be safe with me; I won't let anyone hurt you. Nothing bad will happen to you so long as you stay with me."  
>Belle looked at Mr Gold, still reluctant to go anywhere with this stranger. But then again, <em>everyone_ was a stranger to her at the moment. At least this one was being kind.  
>So she followed him out of the hospital, his coat wrapped around her to keep her warm.<em>

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><p>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<p>

Gold stood outside the door in the hospital that led to the underground rooms. He held his hand over the code lock and focused. It took a while, but eventually the lock clicked open. Magic was useful in this world, but it took a lot of concentration to get it to work properly. Gold hurried down the stairs and with a click of his fingers and some more concentrating, the nurse behind the front desk slumped forwards into her book, unconscious. Gold took the keys off of the desk and hurried down the labyrinth of corridors. He had the path mapped out clearly in his mind from the last time he'd been here with Regina. Eventually, he found it.

_'Miss L French.'_ The label outside the door read.

Gold looked closely at the keys to determine which one would best fit the lock on the door. He could have just used magic, but he didn't want to scare Belle by magically bursting his way into her cell. She already had reason enough to hate him. He selected his key and unlocked the door.

"Mr Gold!" Belle jumped up from her position on her bed when he entered.

"Come with me." Gold said, and held out a hand.

"No." Belle shook her head and flattened herself against the opposite wall, as far away from him as possible. "No, I did that last time and look where it got me. I don't want anything to do with you."

"Belle, please, just let me explain."

"No." Belle shook her head again. "You promised me last time that I would be safe. You promised that you wouldn't let anything happen to me. And then you sent me back down here."

"Sweetheart, I didn't want to do that. I had to! I had to do it to keep you safe from Regina. She would've hurt you just to spite me if I had let you stay up there." He gestured towards the ceiling, towards the outside world.

"Don't you think I can look after myself? You don't even know me! If you'd let me stay then I could have sorted myself out. I could have stood up to Regina for locking me up and I could have stayed out of this stupid cell!"

Gold sighed. "I know. I know you would've tried to change Regina's mind, and that is exactly why you had to come back down here. You can't win against her Belle. She would destroy you. I couldn't take that risk. We had to stay apart until-"

"Until what?" Belle interrupted him. "You're acting as though we were together! What do you mean, 'We had to stay apart?' Why does Regina care if we are together or not?"

"It's complicated, Belle." Gold sat down on the bed. "More complicated than you could ever imagine."

Belle just looked at him. "It would seem that I have all the time in the world. So explain to me what the hell is going on in this town!"

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><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 3 weeks ago.<em>

_Gold unlocked his front door and ushered Belle inside. He checked his surroundings to make sure no one had seen them and then hurried in behind her and locked the door behind him. He turned to face her and was surprised to see she wasn't there._

_"Belle?" He called out and walked into the kitchen. He found the brunette battling with the French doors, trying to escape into the garden. "Ah, they're... Um, they're locked." He said and plopped his keys down on the kitchen counter._

_Belle whipped around to face him. She slowly released the handle of the door and brushed her hair out of her face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come with you." She tried to push past him and leave but he stopped her._

_"And where exactly are you going to go?" He asked her._

_Belle looked up at him, her eyes wide with fear. "I... I don't know." Her bottom lip was trembling and Gold caught her when her legs gave way and she collapsed._

_"Hey, hey it's okay," He whispered, gently placing her back on her feet."_

_"I don't remember anything, I can't remember anything. What's wrong with me?" Belle sobbed into his shoulder as he held her close to him._

_"Nothing's wrong," Gold whispered, stroking her hair. "It's not your fault."_

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><p>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<p>

Gold managed to persuade Belle to return to the shop with him, and when they got there she stood expectantly in the back room while he made up some tea. He handed her a cup and leaned against his desk.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions." He began.

"Damn right I do. Why did you rescue me from that hell-hole just to send me back there?" Belle placed her cup down on a nearby table without drinking any tea and folded her arms.

Gold sighed and set his own cup down. "I was told many years ago that you had died in a terrible accident. And I felt as though it was my fault, because it was. I abandoned you when you needed me."

Belle frowned. "Who told you I was dead? And why can't I remember any of this?"

"We'll get to that later. And who else would it have been than our good friend Regina? She told me you were dead and I was scared so... I never looked into it. At first I thought she was lying, I _knew_ she was lying, but... Good things never last around me. I figured it would be the same with you."

"So how did you find out I was alive?"

"I keep many, many things in this shop." Gold explained, gesturing around the room. "However, this is the only item that I _truly_ treasure." He picked up a cup from the tea set he had used to pour the tea into. It was blue and white, and had a single small chip in the rim. "I thought I'd lost it forever when I... When I moved here." Gold told her, almost letting slip about the curse. "About a month or so ago, I found it buried at the bottom of a box in the storeroom, and it reminded me of you, of how I'd felt when I was with you. And I just... Knew."

Belle was looking at him with a curious expression on her face. "Wait, were we..."

"Not exactly." Gold said as he stared sadly at the chipped cup. "It was... Complicated. We both wanted to be together, but it just... It didn't work." Gold fought back the tears that threatened to choke him. "When I saw that cup I knew that you were still alive. I knew that you were somewhere, and I knew that I had to find you. So I went to the only person who would know where you were."

"Regina." Belle said quietly.

Gold nodded. "At first she pretended that she didn't know anything, but when the right kind of offer was made, she agreed to help. She took me to you, and she let you go."

"So why did you send me back?" Belle asked. Her eyes had a softer look in them now as she watched the man before her break down the walls he had spent many years putting up.

"Because Regina broke the deal we made to ensure your freedom. She began to threaten you, and the only way she would leave off would be if I payed her."

"Like blackmail?"

"Kind of." Gold was trying to avoid telling Belle about the magic. He didn't want to scare her off just when he was possibly just winning her back. "But the fact was, I wasn't certain I could keep you safe out here. So I sent you back to the hospital. If we were apart, it kept Regina happy and you safe."

"You did it for me?" Belle asked.

Gold nodded and swallowed the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. "I couldn't let you get hurt because of me. I'm so sorry, Belle." He gave up fighting the tears and allowed them to cascade down his cheeks as the woman he loved wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered softly in his ear:

"Thank you."

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><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 2 weeks ago.<em>

_"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Gold asked as he headed for the door._

_"I'll be fine, just go! You haven't been to work since you brought me here. You should go." Belle told him as she ushered him towards the door._

_"Just... Don't answer the door or the phone to anyone except me, okay?"_

_"Okay!" Belle laughed. "Now go!"_

_Gold flashed her a quick smile and left the house. He got into his car and drove to his shop in the middle of town. He was busy sorting through his sales log when the bell chimed to signal a customer entering the shop. He placed his pen down in the middle of the page and walked slowly out to the front of the shop._

_"Hello, Mr Gold."_

_Gold's face fell when he saw Regina leaning casually against the counter. "What do you want?" He asked her coolly._

_"I came to collect. You have your precious Belle. Now give me what I want."_

_"I gave you what you want. Our deal is done. _We _are done."_

_"Ah yes. Well, you see... I am not done, Mr Gold."_

_Gold glared at her. "If you do _anything_ to harm Belle, I swear..."_

_"Threats will get you nowhere, Rumple. You want your happy ending? You're gonna have to earn it. I need to retrieve something from our land. Can you help me or not?"_

_"Yes, I can. But I won't." Gold hissed. "Now leave me and Belle alone."_

_"Very well. I'd keep an eye on her, Rumple. It'd be a shame if anything bad were to happen to her."_

_"You leave her alone! She never did anything to you!" Gold yelled after her._

_Regina paused with her hand on the door handle. "But you did, Rumple. And we both know that those we love always pay the price for our bad deeds." She exited the shop without another word._

_Gold glared after her before he grabbed his coat and keys, locked up the shop and drove back to Belle as quickly as he could._

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><p>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<p>

"Will I ever remember you?" Belle asked. The pair were sat together on the sofa. There was an awkward tension between them.

"Hopefully." Gold smiled at her. "We can take it slow. But I know a woman who might be able to help you."

"You do?" Belle asked as she sat up straight. "Who is she?"

"Her name is Emma Swan. She is a very special young woman, she has a remarkable talent for... _Saving_ people, I suppose you could say."

Belle snorted. "You think I need saving?"

Gold laughed. "Not exactly. But hopefully Miss Swan will be able to help you remember your past. _Our_ past." He smiled at her.

Belle smiled back at him. "I'd like that.

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><p><em>Storybrooke, Maine. 2 weeks ago.<em>

_"BELLE!" Gold yelled as he burst through the door. "Belle! Where are you?"_

_"Mr Gold? What's wrong?" Belle appeared around the corner from the sitting room._

_"Come on, we've got to go." Gold grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door._

_"What? Go where? What's going on?" Belle asked, pulling back._

_Gold took her shoulders in his hands and looked into her eyes. "Belle, Sweetheart, please. I don't have time to explain right now, we just have to get you out of here, okay?"_

_Belle gazed into his eyes and nodded. She allowed him to steer her into the car and remained silent while he drove her into town. When they pulled up outside the hospital, however, she broke her silence._

_"What are we doing here? I don't want to be back here. Please don't make me go back in there!"_

_"It's okay; I won't let them hurt you." Gold told her as he got out of the car. He pulled her gently out of her seat and took her through the hospital to the door with the key code lock._

_Belle looked at him, tears gleaming in her eyes. "Please don't do this." She whispered._

_Gold refused to look at her. He simply knocked on the door three times and waited impatiently._

_"No." Belle said when he didn't reply. "No I'm not going."_

_"Belle, you'll be safe here."_

_"Safe from what? I'm safe with _you_! I'm happy with you! Why do I have to go back there?"_

_"Because you're not safe with me, and you can never be happy with me." Gold said bluntly. A nurse suddenly pulled the door open and took Belle's hands in hers._

_"Come with me, Sweetheart." She said kindly._

_"No, no I'm not going back there. Please don't make me go back there!" She sobbed. "Mr Gold! Please!" She screamed as Gold turned and walked away. He didn't look back. He couldn't let her see the tears falling down his face, one for every step he took away from her._

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><p>Storybrooke, Maine. Present day.<p>

Mr Gold was walking up the stairs to his bedroom when Belle came out of the bathroom with her pyjamas on. She smiled when she saw him.

"Hey."

"Hi." He smiled back at her. "You going to bed?"

"Yeah, I've, erm... Had a bit of a crazy day." She said.

Gold laughed. "You and me both."

She took a step closer to him. "Thank you. Thank you for everything you've done for me. I really hope I can remember you soon. I _want_ to remember you soon."

"You're welcome. One day, you _will_ remember me. And then we can be truly happy."

Belle smiled. "Well I look forward to that day."

The couple were standing very close to eachother now. Neither really knew what to do with themselves.

"Goodnight, Belle." Gold whispered.

"Goodnight, Mr Gold." Belle smiled.

She then walked into the spare bedroom and closed the door behind her. Gold stared at the plain wooden door separating him from her. He stared at it for a good minute before walking into his own bedroom and closing the door behind him.

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><p><strong>Oh, how I wish I could write 'And they all lived happily ever after' and be done with it. But a) Rumbelle haven't kissed (yet<strong>**) and b) We still have the slight issue of Neal in a coma and a curse to be broken. So I guess I'll just have to keep writing :')**

**I did it again and forgot to put the dividers in to separate the different parts of the chapters xD Silly me. Sorry if it confused you!**


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